A New Journey
by DownintheDeep
Summary: The story continues on directly from the end of the game. However, when Joel and Ellie get to Tommy's settlement, it's not what they expect and they are forced to embark on a whole new journey. Will Ellie find out the truth? Will their relationship go on? Read the story to find out.
1. A New Friend

**CHAPTER 1**

"Swear to me. Swear to me that everything you said about the fireflies is true." Ellie proclaimed

Joel just stood there, speechless for a second. He didn't expect her to say something like that. Nevertheless, he knew he couldn't tell her the truth in fear of how she might react, so he simply followed her demands.

"I swear."

She knew deep down that Joel was lying to her. But after all that time she spent with him, she started to trust him and realized that he was all that she had left. After a moment of processing Joel's response, she gently nodded her head and said, "Okay."

He quickly turned around and sighed in relief.

"Alright. Let's get moving then. We should try to get to Tommy's before any infected show up."

"Sure thing."

They continuously walked for what seemed like forever until they finally reached the outskirts of Jackson City, where Tommy and Maria were living. However, it wasn't what they expected.

"Jesus Christ..." said Joel.

"Holy shit Joel! What the hell happened here?"

"No idea. I reckon there may have been some raids after we left. But no matter, we have to find Tommy and Maria."

One by one, they began searching the houses throughout the city looking for some sign of life, but to no avail. But they were able to scrounge up a whole bunch of supplies, just in case they needed it, which they were happy about. When Joel came out of the ninth house, he saw Ellie with those big green eyes staring right in his direction with a sad look on her face.

" Man this place is a shit hole. So what do we do now?"

"We try to go find Tommy and Maria. Plus this place doesn't seem that safe to live in anymore..."

Ellie snickered. "Yeah, no shit."

Joel let out a small chuckle at that response. The kid was really starting to grow on him. He was starting to see her as his new daughter. His new spark of hope in his life. But he didn't really know if she felt the same way, and that's what worried him.

"C'mon kiddo. Let's get a move on."

"Right behind you."

As they were walking through the forest, they heard the sounds of groaning and clicking. They looked at each other and knew exactly what was approaching. _Infected_.

"Can't we ever catch a break?" Ellie said.

"Don't worry. I only see 2 clickers and a couple of runners. You stay here. I'll let you know when the coast is clear. Ha. It'll be just like old times."

Ellie let out a soft giggle at the remark. Slowly and quietly, Joel took out the runners with his handy bow and arrow which just left the clickers. He then snuck behind them and stabbed each clicker in the neck with a shiv. He stood up and looked around before telling Ellie to come to him.

Joel was looking in the opposite direction. Just as she was making her way towards him, a hunter snatched her up and started sprinting away. Ellie screamed at the top of her lungs.

"JOEL!"

The sound of her scream caught his attention and just as he turned around, he caught a glimpse of a man carrying Ellie over his shoulder. He immediately trailed behind them in pursuit.

"Fucking hunters! I'm coming Ellie. Let go of her you son of a bitch!"

As he kept sprinting, he noticed them start to disappear and realized that he was starting to lose a lot of his energy. When he looked back up, they were gone, and he had no idea what to do but keep running in hopes of finding her.

* * *

When the hunter realized that Joel was no longer following them, he quickly stopped and threw Ellie to the ground.

"Oh fuck!" she said in pain.

She could feel herself slowly drifting to sleep, but she knew that she couldn't let that happen with that fucking hunter in front of her.

He got on top of her and started talking. "Hey little girl. Do you want to have some fun?"

All the memories from winter came flashing back and she was scared to death.

"Get off of me you motherfucker! Let me go! I don't want to do anything with you."

She bit his arm to try to get him off her but it didn't work and it just made him more angry. She saw him pull out his shotgun and tried to get it away, but it was no use. He was just too strong.

He lined up the gun, pointing it straight at Ellie's forehead. "You messed with the wrong guy. You know that kid, huh?"

No matter how much this seemed like what happened with David, she couldn't let it get to her. She had to defend herself. But that was the problem. She didn't have anything to defend herself. She started to cry knowing what was about to happen. She was extremely upset because if she died, she would leave Joel behind and she knew that would break his heart. She knew that he loved her, and although she never admitted it to him, she loved him like a father too.

"You're times up little girl! Daddy's not going to save you."

And with that, it all went dark with a loud BANG.

* * *

Ellie was surprised to look up and realize that she was still alive. As she got up, she noticed the hunter's dead body on the ground and a teenager, who looked just a bit older than her, standing on top of him with a shotgun. He then turned to look at her and spoke.

"Hey! You okay?" the stranger asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Thanks for the help and all, but...who are you?"

"Oh sorry. My name is AJ. How about you?"

"Ellie."

"Well Ellie, I think we should get moving before any more of those hunters show up. My motorcycle's right there."

"Alright but..."

"Yeah?"

"My...uhhh...dad. He's still out there. He was looking for me." She couldn't believe what she just said. She just called Joel her dad. It felt weird to her, but at the same time, it felt nice because she finally found someone that she could stay with for the rest of her life.

"Oh. Okay no problem. Just come with me and hang on tight. Just let me know if you see him. We'll find him. Don't worry."

"Yeah...I hope so."

So they rode off, and after about half an hour, they stumbled across a figure that Ellie quickly recognized and pointed out to AJ. She hopped off the motorcycle and ran up to the figure. It was Joel. He was breathing, but she could tell that he was exhausted.

"Joel?" She said.

His eyes opened wide and when he saw those big green eyes and that red hair in front of him, he couldn't help but smile with joy.

"Hey baby girl! How'd you find me?"

She pointed to the boy on the motorcycle.

"Him. His name is AJ. He saved my life. He killed the hunter that took me."

Joel looked at the boy and gave him a smirk.

"Thanks kid. Hey, you know any place around here that we can stay for a while?"

Ellie and Joel both looked at AJ simultaneously expecting a positive answer.

"Well..you guys can stay with me I guess. I've been living by myself for a while and could use the company."

"Great!" Ellie said with a smile on her face. She didn't realize at first, but she actually liked AJ and thought he was kind of cute.

"Well let's get moving then. We don't want to stay out here too long." said Joel.

AJ and Ellie simply nodded. Ellie and Joel got onto the motorcycle. It was a tight fit but there was just enough room for the three of them to sit on it. And so, they headed towards AJ's house where they hoped to get some rest. At least, for a little while.


	2. Growing Closer

**CHAPTER 2**

As they got off the motorcycle, Joel and Ellie looked up to their amazement to see a beautiful house that was still in really good condition.

"You're shitting me. This is where you live?!" Ellie proclaimed.

"Yeah. I've been taking really good care of it. Didn't want to live like the rest in some rotten shithole."

"Kid. This is a really nice place you got here and all, but could we head inside? I don't think we should just be standing here..you know..in the open."

"Oh! Yeah, sure thing."

As AJ opened the door, Ellie ran inside and was surprised to see how neat everything was. She quickly ran up the stairs to look in the bedrooms to see which one she liked. She had a habit of doing that no matter who's house they went into.

"Now Ellie -"

"Calm down. I'm just looking."

Joel was just about to head upstairs to bring Ellie back down when he felt a sudden tug on his arm and realized that he was being held back.

"It's alright. Let her have her fun. I want you guys to feel happy while you're here."

Just then, Ellie came running downstairs with a huge smile on her face. Joel was happy that she was happy, but he knew her, and he knew something was up.

"Alright Ellie. What is it?"

"What's what?"

"You know god damn well what I'm talking about."

"Fine. I was in one of the rooms when I found these..."

She took some objects out of her bag and Joel realized exactly what they were. _Comics. Savage Starlight to be exact._

"Oh! You're a fan of those too. I love those comics. I already read all of them so you can keep 'em if -"

He stopped speaking when he realized that she locked her arms around him in a big hug. He didn't expect it but he had to admit that it did feel really nice to find someone his own age after all this time alone.

"Thanks! You're the best." Ellie said.

Hearing that made Joel's eyes fill with joy. He was happy that Ellie had finally met someone that she could relate to. He thought to himself that maybe AJ would be the key to get her to stop doing the things that he hated the most, like reading from that awful joke book. But he knew that Ellie would always annoy him every once in a while, and he was surprisingly okay with that.

"So Ellie, did you find a room that you like?" AJ asked.

"Yeah I did. All of them looked nice. But this one just felt right."

She pointed to the room to the right of the stairs and AJ smiled.

"Gotta admit. You have some good taste."

She smiled as she gently shoved him in the arm. The more she talked to AJ, the more she started to like him. But this wasn't like what she had with Sam. This was more awkward and emotional. She quickly tried to say something before he got curious.

"Hey Joel! Come up here. We need to set up our new room."

"Wait. You guys don't want your own rooms?" AJ asked with a curious look on his face.

"Uh...well..."

Joel was at the top of the stairs when he began to speak. "She's a bit nervous when it comes to sleeping alone. She has nightmares once in a while and likes to have me by her side during those times."

"Joel"

Ellie felt embarrassed at what Joel had said. But it's not like he was lying. She really didn't like to sleep alone and she always wanted Joel to be there when she needed him the most.

"It's alright. You guys can share a room if you want. I was just curious that's all."

"No problem kid. Hey how about you go clean yourself up while Ellie and I go whip us up some grub for dinner, huh? It's the least we can do."

"Good idea. Let me know if you need anything."

AJ ran off to go take a shower. 15 minutes later, Joel and Ellie were practically done making dinner and were waiting for AJ to come down. But Ellie was growing impatient and went upstairs to check on him. She knocked on the bathroom door.

"AJ? You okay? Can I come in?"

Before AJ could even answer, Ellie had already stepped inside.

"Oh oh sorry sorry. I-I didn't realize that you weren't-"

She stopped speaking when she noticed something on his right leg. She stepped in closer to take a look and knew exactly what it was. _A bite mark._

Ellie was pointing at his leg when she said, "When did you get that?"

"Ellie. Listen. It's not what you think."

"How long has it been since you got bitten AJ?" She was starting to grow impatient.

He sighed. "It's been...3 years. I think I'm immune."

"Wait, what?" She slowly started to calm down. Could it be? Did she finally find someone else that was like her? Someone that was immune?"

"It's true. I swear."

She looked deeply into his eyes and she believed him.

"I believe you. But...there's something I need to tell you. I'm immune too." As she said this, she pulled up her sleeve to reveal her bite mark.

He was shocked at first but it quickly turned to a smile when he realized that he was not the only one.

"Come on. We gotta tell Joel that you're immune too. He should know." Ellie proclaimed.

"I don't know if that's a good idea."

"Don't worry. He knows I'm immune already. He won't do anything."

AJ obliged and followed Ellie down the stairs towards Joel. Ellie told Joel about AJ as he was afraid of how Joel might react. He was surprised when Joel smiled at him.

"Well I'm glad you're still alive. You seem like a good kid. You deserve to be immune just like Ellie."

Ellie blushed. She wasn't use to Joel talking about her to boys, especially boys her age.

"We should eat." AJ suggested. "I'm pretty sure you two haven't eaten in a while so you guys must be starving.

Joel chuckled and nodded. They began to eat. When they finished, AJ was the first to question them.

"So how did you two end up here anyway? If you don't mind by me asking."

They didn't mind at all. Joel and Ellie took turns telling AJ the story of how they met and their journey across the country. One thing they didn't mention was what happened in the winter with Ellie because frankly Joel didn't know exactly what happened and Ellie obviously didn't like to talk about it.

"Man that sounds like hell. I'm glad you two are okay."

"Thanks." Ellie said. "What about you? How did you end up here? Where's your family?"

She noticed a depressed look on his face when he started to talk.

"Well, umm my mom died when giving birth to my baby sister. So she wasn't around for very long. Then when I was 8, my dad got bitten by a clicker and told me to run and leave him behind and made me promise to take care of my sister. But, a month later, I couldn't do anything, I was held back, they made me watch them...watch them rape her. I was able to escape but I still have nightmares to this day. What makes it worse is that I failed my dad."

Ellie regretted asking the question when she heard his response. She was so shocked at what he had said. She felt so bad for what he had to go through. Yet she admired the strength and courage he showed even after all this had happened to him. She couldn't help but hug him tightly again, but this time, she gave him a kiss on the cheek as well. She was nervous to what his reaction might be because she had never done anything like that before.

"Thanks." he said. "I really needed that." Ellie gave a big smile in his direction.

"Look kid. I know it must be hard to have to go through all that and be a survivor. But you're doing a damn good job so far and I'm sure you're dad would be proud."

He looked up at Joel and gave him a hint of a smile.

"Looks like it's getting late. I think we should rest up." Joel said.

"I guess you're right." AJ replied.

They all headed upstairs and wished each other a good night's sleep, something that none of them had gotten in a long, long time. Joel and AJ had drifted fast asleep. But Ellie was still wide awake thinking to herself. She was really starting to fall in love with AJ. She never felt anything like it before but she kind of liked the feeling of falling in love. She then whispered something in the air, double checking to make sure that nobody else could hear her.

"I really hope he likes me too."

With that off her chest, she was able to fall asleep peacefully.


	3. Matchmaker

**CHAPTER 3**

The next morning when Ellie woke up, it seemed awfully quiet, a little too quiet. She noticed that Joel wasn't next to her and that got her a little worried. She started calling for him.

"Joel?"

"Joel!"

"Down here baby girl!"

She was happy to finally here that Southern accent because she thought that something may have happened to him. She walked down the stairs and saw him sitting on the porch alone.

"What are you doing? Where's AJ?"

"Nothing really. Just getting some fresh air. Hasn't been this nice out in a while so I thought I'd enjoy it. And AJ went over to some nearby houses to gather some more supplies."

"Oh" she said. She was about to turn around and walk back into the house but she had the urge to ask Joel something. Something personal. Joel saw the look on her face and knew that she was thinking about something.

"Somethin' on your mind kiddo?"

"Actually...yeah there is. But I don't know if I should be talking to you about this stuff."

Joel had no idea what she was talking about but he wanted to comfort her so he gave her a gentle squeeze and began mumbling in her hear.

"I'm always here for you. You can always talk to me...about anything. You know that right?"

"Yeah I know." She hugged him back.

"Well, go on then."

"Ok Joel. You're lucky he's not here right now."

"Lucky who's not here?" He took a while to process what she said before realizing that this was about AJ. "Oh. This is about AJ isn't it?"

She blushed and felt embarrassed but she knew that she needed Joel's help. She simply nodded.

"So you like him huh?"

"Yeah...but I see him as more than just a friend. And I don't know if he feels the same way."

Joel didn't like the idea of Ellie having a boyfriend. But he had to admit that AJ was actually a great kid and was starting to grow on him just like Ellie did a year ago. The most important thing to him was that Ellie was happy and she hadn't been as happy as this in a very long time.

"I know exactly how you feel Ellie. I went through the same thing when I was about your age. But you just have to give them some time and let them make their move when they're good and ready. I'm sure he likes you too. I'm sure of it."

Ellie let out a big smile. She was actually surprised that Joel was taking the matter so calmly. She thought he would try to be over protective and try to scare him away. But he didn't, and she was glad he didn't. She hugged him tightly.

"Thanks Joel." She thought about something for a second and then decided to ask him. "So...what was your move? Did you have a lot of girlfriends back in the day?"

Joel was taken aback by the question. He wasn't sure what to say. All he was able to muster out of his mouth was "Uhh."

"Too much?"

"Too much."

They had a mutual agreement when it came to Joel's personal life. Joel didn't like to talk about it and Ellie understood when she was crossing a certain line. But she tried, hoping that this time would be a little different. Just then, they saw AJ walking towards them.

Ellie started to wave with a big smile on her face. She couldn't help herself. Every time she saw him she would get really happy and start to get butterflies in her stomach. It was weird, but it was different, and she liked that.

"Hey AJ!"

"Hey Ellie! Hey Joel!"

"So you find anything useful kid?"

"Not at first. But I ran into this abandoned factory and there were supplies lying everywhere. Rags, explosives, scissors. Y'know, all the good stuff."

Joel chuckled. He was starting to see why Ellie liked him so much. He was just like her. It made him feel good that there was someone else he could rely on besides Ellie. He was cut off in his thoughts when he heard Ellie speak.

"That's great!" said Ellie.

"Why don't we take them inside kid? We'll just set 'em aside for now and have a nice breakfast."

"Yeah sure thing."

The three of them walked inside and started to prepare for their next meal. Once they were done, they began to converse.

"So Ellie, what do you like to do for fun?"

"Lots of stuff I guess. I like to listen to music, read comics, and hike."

"She also likes to annoy me." said Joel

She giggled. "That's because it's fun Joel and you can be an ass sometimes." Joel chuckled. "What about you AJ?"

"Well, pretty much the same as you but I also like to swim and dance."

She was shocked to hear him say that he liked to dance. He didn't really seem like the dancing type. But she was hoping to see if AJ would ever dance with her.

"Could you teach me?"

"Teach you what?"

"To dance."

"You never learned?"

"Well Joel and I were always on the run for the past year. And I never really got the chance to learn back in the Boston QZ. Joel promised to teach me how to swim and play guitar. I was kind of hoping that you could teach me to dance. Only if you're okay with it though."

"Yeah yeah sure. I don't mind at all. But maybe another time. I'm a little tired right now. Just to let you know, I'm not that great of a dancer. But how could I turn down an offer from a cute girl like you?"

Ellie turned a bright shade of red. She couldn't help herself. She tried to hide it but it was no use. He already noticed and gave out a little chuckle.

"Thanks a bunch." she said. She quickly ran upstairs to avoid further embarrassment. After she was longer to be seen, Joel approached AJ.

"Hey kid. You know she really likes you right?"

AJ smiled. "Yeah I know. And I like her a lot too. It's just that...I never felt that way before..about anybody. I don't even know what to say to her."

"Well it seems like you're doing a good job so far."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you just called her cute. And I could tell that she really liked that. It's why she ran upstairs. She didn't want to look like a tomato in front of you."

AJ laughed. "But I wasn't even trying."

"Sometimes that's the best way kid. Just be yourself around her. She likes you for who you are."

"Thanks Joel. You know I'm glad Ellie found someone like you to take care of her. She sees you as a dad you know?"

"A dad?" Joel was surprised to hear this. He thought of Ellie as another daughter without knowing how she felt. But now he did. And he couldn't be any happier.

"Yeah. Back when I saved her from that hunter, she mentioned that you were still out there somewhere and she referred to you as her dad. I know you two aren't really related but you two seem like a perfect fit."

Joel smiled at him for a couple of seconds before speaking.

"Thank you son. That means a lot. Now, I think it's time for you talk to Ellie. Let her know how you feel."

"I think you're right."

And with that, AJ headed upstairs and knocked on Ellie's door before entering the room. Joel was relieved after the door had shut, because frankly, he was tired of talking about teenage love. Plus, it was a really awkward topic for him anyway considering his past. He just hoped that he wouldn't have to go through something like that again.


	4. Back on Track

**Chapter 4**

When Ellie heard a knock on the door, she thought it was Joel, but to her surprise, it was actually AJ who stepped through the door.

"Hey Ellie. Can we talk for a sec?"

"Uhh sure. What's going on?"

"Look. Joel told me how you felt...you know..about me..and I -"

Her jaw dropped. She couldn't believe that Joel told AJ about her feelings toward him. She was angry, but in a way, relieved as well knowing that she didn't have to express her feelings to AJ personally.

"What the fuck! I can't believe he did that!"

"No. It's alright. I'm glad he did."

He leaned in and kissed her on the lips. She sat there frozen for a minute before realizing what had just happened. She just had her first real kiss. And it was with the boy she loved. AJ began to speak again.

"I was nervous. I never met a girl like you and I didn't really know how you felt about me, but now that I know, I guess I can be more open to you."

Ellie let out a big smile on her face. AJ saw this and smiled back at her.

"So...does this make us boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"I guess so."

Ellie stood up and grabbed AJ's hand. She walked over to the door and dragged AJ behind her. They walked down the stairs holding hands tightly towards Joel, who had just walked into the house.

"Hey Joel! Meet my new boyfriend."

Joel looked up and saw Ellie and AJ holding hands. He was happy for her. She finally found someone that she could relate to. Someone else that could get her through the tough times.

"That's great kids. I reckon you guys had a nice talk up there."

"Yeah, we sure did." AJ replied while smiling at Ellie.

"Well I'm glad. But listen. Ellie, we need to get back on track and look for Tommy and Maria. We have no idea where they are and we need to make sure that they are okay.

"Oh shit! I totally forgot about them!"

Joel glared at her before giving her a gentle smirk. He muttered something under his breath.

"I can see why you've been so distracted..."

She stared at him before realizing that he was right. And she had nothing to say back to him which was odd because she always did. He chuckled.

"I was just playing around with you. But listen. We don't have to leave right away. But after we have something to eat, we should get going. If they're still out there, we have to find them."

All of a sudden, AJ budded into the conversation.

"Wait a minute. Did you say Tommy and Maria?"

"Yeah I did. Why?" Joel replied

"I knew them. They helped me out when I ran low on supplies. Great people. How do you know them?"

"Tommy's my brother. Anyway, after the journey we had with the Fireflies, we headed towards Tommy's settlement to try to live a better life. But when we got there, it was ruined and there was no one there. That's why we're trying to look for them."

"Holy shit! You're kidding! You're Tommy's brother! He told me so much about you. I won't get into it, but it's nothing bad. So, you said that their homes were destroyed?"

"Sure did. You have any idea who could have done it?"

"Actually I do. There's a large group of assholes that live on the outskirts of the town. Bunch of fucking cannibals!"

Ellie froze with a dead look in her eye. There was that word again. _Cannibals_. At that moment, she began to burst into tears, remembering everything that happened in the winter with that fucking monster David.

"Oh shit! Ellie! Did I say something wrong?"

"It's not your fault kid. It's just..something else happened during our journey that really got to her and she hasn't forgotten it yet. Heck, I don't even know the details because she really doesn't like to talk about it but -"

"No Joel. You've always been trying to comfort me and I-I think i'm finally ready to talk about it."

She gave a loud sigh before starting to speak. She told them everything. She told them about hunting the deer, killing all those infected in the factory, drawing them away from Joel, being captured, almost being chopped to pieces and then finally being trapped in a burning building with that psycho maniac. When she was done, she was having some trouble breathing due to her sobbing. Joel began to comfort her.

"It's okay. It's okay baby girl. He's gone. You don't have to worry about him anymore. He can't hurt you."

Joel felt terrible. If he hadn't gotten hurt at the university, none of this would have happened. No teenage girl deserves to go through this he thought. He knew she went through a lot during the winter, but nothing to this extent. He looked over and saw a really depressed look on AJ's face.

"Ellie...I'm really sorry I brought it up. I didn't mean to -"

She stopped crying and responded. "It's okay. You didn't know."

AJ grabbed Ellie and hugged her tightly. He then proceeded to kiss her on the forehead. She rested her head on his chest and she liked the feeling. She felt safe in his arms. Joel began to speak up.

"Ellie, you sure you're okay to come along?"

She wiped away the tears and nodded. She seemed to have calmed down. "Yeah. I'm fine now."

"Alright Ellie. We gotta eat quickly and scrounge up some supplies before we leave. Hey AJ, did you want to come along too? Since you were close with Tommy and all."

"Yeah I'd love to. Hey! If we run into some infected, maybe I can show you some of my signature moves." He couldn't stop laughing at what he just said. Ellie was perked up knowing that AJ was going to come along with them.

After having some deer to eat, they were all ready to go towards the group that AJ had mentioned earlier to Joel.

"Ellie? AJ? You both ready?"

They both nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. Let me just get my motorcycle for-"

"I don't think that's such a good idea kid."

Ellie immediately budded in which surprised Joel.

"Why the hell not?" She seemed utterly upset, mainly because she liked the feeling of holding onto AJ when they were on the motorcycle.

"It's just that I think the motorcycle may attract some unneeded attention. You know, infected? I think it would be best to just walk there."

AJ sighed. "Yeah. Maybe he's right."

Ellie was skeptical at first but eventually agreed to walk with them knowing that they both cared for her and would protect her.

After a while of walking, all three of them became very quiet and AJ wanted to know more about them. He was a really curious teenager.

"So when was the last time you saw Tommy and Maria?"

"Back in the fall. We visited them to try and find out where the fireflies might be considering that Tommy use to be a firefly himself."

"Oh. I see." AJ turned around and looked at Ellie.

"Hey Ellie. You okay? You seem a little quiet."

"Yeah. Yeah I'm fine. This just brings back a lot of memories, that's all."

"How so?"

"The woods. I remember walking through the woods a lot while I was with Joel." She started to smile. "Hey Joel! Remember how you almost left me with Tommy to go to the fireflies? But you couldn't leave me. You just loved me too god damn much, didn't you?

Joel snickered. "Yeah I sure did. And still do kiddo."

She ran over and gave Joel a quick hug, letting him know that she was glad that he never left and stayed with her through thick and thin.

AJ saw this and he smiled. He was happy that Ellie had a second chance at something that he would probably never have again. _A father that deeply loved and cared for her_. Just then, they heard the sound of infected running amok.

"Oh shit!" said Ellie.

"Alright kids. Stay close to me. There's a bunch of them up there so try to stay down and as quiet as possible."

With that being said, Joel pressed forward, and Ellie and AJ followed close behind him. But that didn't last very long.

* * *

**A/N**

**Hey guys! I'm new to this site so I'm still trying to figure out what I can do. By the way, this is the first fanfic I've ever written so I'm still trying to see how I can improve my writing skills. I appreciate all the reviews and feedback that I've been getting so far. If you want to here more of the story, make sure to leave a review and/or follow the story so you don't miss it. I'll try to make it as interesting as possible for you guys. I've been posting 2 chapters per day so far and I will try to continue that pattern. Expect chapter 5 and 6 to be written and posted by tomorrow afternoon. I'm trying to finish off the story before I start university next month so bare with me. Anyway, thanks a bunch for the support! It really means a lot.**


	5. Something New

**Chapter 5**

AJ had broken off from the two of them without them noticing. It was only after about 10 of the infected went down that Joel and Ellie realized where AJ was.

"AJ! What the hell are you doing?" Ellie asked. She received no response due to the fact that AJ was a little busy at the time.

One by one, AJ was taking out the infected like he had been doing this as long as Joel had. He was a natural. Even Joel had to admit that he was quite impressed. He muttered something under his breath.

"Nice shot kid."

When AJ couldn't see any more infected ahead, he headed back their way. "Alright. Ellie! Joel! I think it's clear now. We should -"

He was cut off by the site of Joel being grabbed by a clicker. Ellie tried to stab the clicker with her pocketknife, but before she could, the clicker heard her and turned her way. Just as the clicker was about to grab her, AJ dashed into the scene with an axe in hand. He violently hacked at its head, totally separating it from its body. He tried to catch his breath before speaking again.

"Whoops! Didn't see that one."

Ellie stared at AJ in amazement. She knew that he could take care of himself, but she didn't think that he was this good. He thought that he was just as strong and strategic as Joel, if not more. She didn't realize it until now and it just made her more attracted to him.

"You guys alright?" AJ asked.

"Yeah. Yeah we're fine kid. Say where'd you learn to take care of yourself like that? I mean that was pretty impressive."

"Pshhh. That was nothing. And for the record, I taught myself. When you're alone in this world for as long as I was, you gotta learn to be aggressive like that. Best way to survive."

Joel snickered. He started to speak with a sarcastic tone. "Alright. Maybe after we find Tommy and Maria, we can go hunting sometime. I think you could really help us out considering Ellie still needs to work on her aim."

Ellie glared at Joel before responding. "Hey! That was one time, okay? I was just having a bad day! We all do."

Joel began to laugh at her response and Ellie just rolled her eyes trying to laugh it off as well.

"Alright kids. We should try to find a place to stay for the night. We need to rest up before we continue."

"There aren't many houses nearby. But there is a campground. We could camp outside tonight." replied AJ.

"That's a great idea!" shouted Ellie. "I've always wanted to sleep outside but Joel was always too scared and wouldn't let me."

"Hey! I wasn't scared. I just don't think it's a good idea to be sleeping outside with all the infected lying around."

Just then he felt someone grab his arm. It was Ellie. She looked straight into his eyes and gave him that face that she always did when she really wanted something.

"Joel. Please?"

He regretted looking into those big green eyes the moment he did. He knew that every time he did, she always got what she wanted. He sighed and nodded. She suddenly got a big smile on her face and ran over to hug Joel.

"Oh my god! Thank you! We can finally have some fun!"

"Excuse me? Are you saying that I'm no fun?"

"Well..."

Joel thought about the question he had just asked before cutting her short.

"On second thought, don't answer that."

Ellie laughed. Even though she knew that Joel didn't want to hear it, she said it anyway.

"Well..I mean we've had some fun times. But there's a lot of more fun stuff that we never got a chance to do. That's what I meant."

"Oh alright. How 'bout this? Once we're done, you tell me everything that you've ever wanted to do. And we'll do it."

"Everything?"

"Everything. Just try not to make it anything ridiculous."

Ellie chuckled. "You promise?"

"I promise."

She looked up at Joel and gave a big smile in his direction. "Okay." She seemed to be really excited about it. Joel just wanted her to be happy. After all, she had been through a lot, and she did deserve it. He wanted to treat her to the normal life that she never got the chance to have. Just then, they heard the sound of someone calling them. It was AJ.

"Hey! You guys coming? The campground's just ahead."

"Yeah! Be right there." Ellie proclaimed.

Ellie and Joel caught up with AJ and when they reached the campground, they stopped and began to set up camp. There was a nice breeze outside. It wasn't too hot, nor cold. It was just right. They made a fire and sat around it. Ellie never got to experience camping before so it was something new for her.

"Man. This is really nice. Did you go camping a lot Joel?"

"Actually yeah. Before the outbreak, Sarah and I use to go camping almost every weekend. It was the only real time we actually bonded since I was always at work during the week."

Joel never really talked about Sarah a lot. But when he did, Ellie became really interested. She felt like she was learning more about the fatherly side of Joel every time he talked about her. And since she now saw him as a father, she wanted to know what kind of stuff a dad usually does with his 'baby girl' as Joel called her. She never knew her real dad and that just made her more attached to Joel considering he was the only male figure to step into her life and stick around no matter what happened.

"Must've been nice. What else did you do with Sarah?"

Now AJ was beginning to draw interest to the conversation. He had just learned about Sarah a few days ago, and yet, he felt like he knew her personally.

"Well not much really. Never really got a chance to do a lot with my job always getting in the way. But I was hoping that I could maybe get a second chance with you."

Ellie smiled. She was happy with the fact that Joel loved and cared for her so much. She also admired the fact that Joel didn't completely cut out Sarah from his life because the last thing she wanted was to be a replacement in his heart for his lost daughter.

"Sure thing."

They were silent for a while before Ellie began to speak.

"Hey AJ. I was wondering. Would you be able to teach me how to ride a motorcycle when we get back?"

Joel stared at her with a look of concern. He wanted her to experience new things and have fun. But at the same time, he didn't want her to get hurt in any way either.

"Now Ellie, I don't think -"

"Sure princess. It would be my pleasure."

AJ grabbed her hand and gave her a gentle kiss. She began to blush. She really did feel like a princess. And she had found her knight in shining armour.

"When did you come to be such a gentleman?"

"To be honest, the moment I saw you." He said sarcastically.

She shoved him in the arm lightly and they both began to chuckle.

"Oh shut up. Well it's getting late and I'm really tired. I'm going to head off to sleep. Goodnight guys."

She drifted off to sleep fairly quickly and Joel and AJ were still sitting there in silence.

"So..." said AJ.

"Yeah?"

"Nothing. Just a bit awkward. We haven't really talked much. And I want to get to know you better."

"That a fact? Well, we've got plenty of time to talk about it tomorrow. We should rest up."

"Alright then."

They both headed off to sleep. However, before Joel went off to sleep, he headed over to where Ellie was sleeping and kissed her on the forehead.

"Good night baby girl."

He lied down next to her, and almost fell asleep, but before he did, he heard her murmur one last thing.

"Night dad."


	6. Aggressive Much?

**Chapter 6**

When Ellie woke up the next morning, she was surprised to see that the two men in her life were no longer sleeping beside her. Initially, she was a little worried, but then she noticed a note beside and leaned over to pick it up. She began to read. It was from Joel.

_Hey baby girl. AJ and I just went out to look for some food for the three of us. We'll be back soon so no need to worry. I would have brought you too but you were fast asleep and I didn't want to wake you._

_P.S. AJ said he thought you looked cute when you were sleeping._

_- Dad_

Ellie began to blush when she read the last sentence. Even though it hadn't been that long, she missed AJ. She had grew accustomed to seeing his face every morning of every day. But then she thought about what she had read and realized what was happening. Her boyfriend and her dad were together without her. She didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. She wanted them to get to know each other, but at the same time, she didn't trust Joel being alone with AJ. She began to speak softly to herself.

"Joel. I know you're like my dad and all now, but if you screw this up for me, I swear to god-"

She stopped speaking when she realized something else. _She was alone_. She hated being alone. And Joel knew that. Being alone was her worst nightmare and she was starting to get scared, but she tried to distract herself by pulling out some of the comics that she got from AJ. She never got a chance to read them, and after a while, she forgot that Joel and AJ weren't even there.

* * *

AJ and Joel were walking through the woods in silence with a deer, two rabbits, and a couple of squirrels they had killed until Joel brought up a conversation.

"So what did you want to talk about kid?"

"What do you mean?"

"Last night. You said you wanted to get to know me better. What did you want to know?"

"Oh yeah! Right. Thanks for reminding me. I just wanted to know what life was like...I mean before the outbreak."

"Well, it was much better than what we have today. I can tell you that for sure. Families living peacefully. You didn't have to worry about infected roaming around. All we did was sat back and relaxed most of the time."

"Wow. Sounds nice. Man, how times have changed."

"You're right about that kid. Is that all you wanted to talk about?"

"Well...there is one more thing."

"Shoot."

AJ sighed. He wasn't really sure how to approach Joel with the question that he had in mind, so he just spit out the first thing that he could muster.

"How do you feel about me?"

"I beg your pardon."

"I mean like me and Ellie."

"Oh."

He never really thought about it until now. Joel knew that he was kind of overprotective of Ellie and he wanted to at least give her some freedom in her personal life. He didn't take too kindly to boys her age but AJ didn't seem like any of those other teenage boys that he had met in the past. No. He was different. He felt that he could trust AJ and knew that he would do anything to protect his baby girl. Plus, he knew that if he didn't let Ellie be with AJ, he would never hear the end of it.

"Well I'm happy for you two. It's really hard to find teenage love these days. You seem like a nice boy and I trust you with every fiber of my being. But kid, just to warn you ahead of time, if you do anything to hurt my little girl, I swear I'll -"

"Relax. I would never do anything to hurt her. Never."

"Good. Well we should head back. I reckon Ellie's probably bored out of her mind right now and she doesn't really like to be alone very much."

"Let's get moving then."

And with that, the two of them began heading back towards the campground where they had slept the night before.

* * *

Ellie was still reading her comic and was so into it that she didn't even notice that AJ and Joel had returned. Joel wanted to have a little fun so he moved towards Ellie slowly and quietly without her seeing him. Then, he shouted.

"Ellie!"

She instantly dropped her comic and punched the guy square in the face who was next to her, not even looking to see who it was. She was scared to death. She turned around and saw Joel laughing and had an enraged look in her face.

"Jesus! You scared the shit outta me! What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Joel was still trying to recover from the punch he received. She may have been just a 15 year old girl, but she had a hell of punch, and he learned that first hand. Once he got back up to his feet, he responded.

"I was just trying to have a little fun. And boy, was it worth it." He began to chuckle. AJ joined in seeing everything that just happened. He couldn't help himself.

She had a serious look on her face but that quickly changed when she saw AJ laughing. His laugh was addicting and she couldn't help but laugh along with them.

"So you ready to get going?" Joel asked.

"Yeah...but I need to talk to you first..alone."

AJ heard this and respected her wishes. The last thing he wanted to do was get on her nerves after the force he had seen from the punch she gave to Joel. After Ellie believed they were far away enough from AJ, she turned around to face Joel and he began to speak.

"Ok Ellie, what is it?"

She grabbed his arm and squeezed it really tightly. He didn't want to show the pain so he tried to hide it. But it was really hurting him.

"Why do you seem so aggressive today?"

"What the hell did you say to him?"

"What?"

"Don't play dumb with me Joel! You know exactly what I'm talking about."

"I didn't say nothing."

"Bullshit. You're hiding something."

He sighed. He thought about the conversation that he had earlier in the day with AJ. There was one thing that he said to him, and knowing that Ellie wasn't the type to let it slide, he decided to spit it out.

"Alright. I guess I may have...accidentally...threatened him in a way. But here me out."

"YOU WHAT?!" She looked even more enraged than before and twisted his arm.

They didn't even notice that AJ was next to them until he budded into the conversation.

"Ellie. It's not what you think. He was actually pretty nice about everything. He just wanted to make sure that I would never let you get hurt in any way. That's all."

She looked at Joel after listening to AJ's point of view and questioned him.

"That true dad?"

"Yes, it is. Baby girl, I swear, I would never do anything to hurt your feelings. You know that right?"

She ran in and gave him a hug. She felt bad about putting him through the pain that she did.

"I know." She pointed at his arm. "Sorry about the whole twisting your arm thing. I didn't mean to. It's just...I didn't know how else to get the truth out of you."

"That's alright kiddo. I guess I kinda deserved it."

She looked at his face and then began to chuckle. "I'm not sorry about punching your face in though. You really did deserve that one. That'll teach you to never sneak up on me again."

He snickered. "Never again."

AJ and Ellie couldn't stop laughing as they began to proceed towards the group that AJ described which was now just a few miles ahead of them. But when they turned around to tell Joel to hurry up, he was nowhere to be found.

* * *

**A/N**

**Sorry about not being able to upload chapter 6 yesterday. But here it is, and I hope you guys enjoy it! Please make sure to follow/review if you want to hear more from the story. Also, if you ever want to play the Last of Us multiplayer with me, just send me a friend request. My PSN is StraiT_Edg3-25. I'm not sure if I'll be able to put up chapter 7 today because I haven't started it yet, but it's possible. So until next time, cya.**


	7. Meeting the Bandits

**Chapter 7**

Her heart stopped. She began to tear up. She couldn't believe that the one man who took care of her for over a year was missing just like that. She had to find him. She had to stay strong. She couldn't let her emotions get the better of her. But she couldn't stand the thought of losing Joel in her life. Not now, not ever. Just then, she felt someone wrap their arms around her.

"Ellie. I'm really sorry...but we need to keep moving. If they're still out here, we could be in store for a load of trouble."

She wiped away the tears looking more confident than ever. AJ saw the look on her eyes and knew that she was willing to do anything to find Joel.

"Yeah. We need to find him. Now."

"Of course."

Ellie was about to continue walking along the path that they were going on before, but she was held back.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked.

AJ sighed. "It's them."

"What?"

"The guys who took him. It's the group that I mentioned before."

"How do you know for sure?"

He pointed towards the right of where they were standing. She didn't notice anything at first, but then she saw it. _Horse tracks_. She knew AJ was right because she knew that those tracks weren't there before.

"They're the only ones who step foot in this area. I'm pretty sure they have horses too."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's follow the -"

"Hold your horses. We don't know how many of them are up there. We need to be smart about this."

She listened to what he had to say. He was right. They really didn't know what they were dealing with. Or at least, she didn't. He seemed to know a lot more about this group than he was letting on. She was getting suspicious and wanted to ask him about it but knew deep down that this wasn't the time or place for any of that. Her best bet was to just follow his lead, mainly because Joel wasn't around and he was the only one who could protect her now.

He waved his hand in front of her and it took a while for her to notice.

"Ellie. You okay?"

"Huh? Oh yeah sorry. I was just thinking."

"Alright. Maybe we should get moving now. Just make sure to be ready...for anything. Haven't been here in a while so I don't know if things are still the same."

"Sure thing."

They crept up the path following the horse tracks. They kept at it until they heard something in the distance. They ignored it and kept moving, but then, they heard it again, and this time, it was loud and clear. _Gunshots._ They immediately got behind the nearest form of cover. AJ quickly looked over to take a glance at the surroundings and recognized the area immediately.

"Yeah. This is definitely the right place."

"Great. So what do we do?

"Not sure. I think it's best if we just wait it out until they go back inside."

Ellie gasped. "Seriously? Screw it. We don't have time for this."

She looked up over cover to try to line up her bow but immediately stopped when she saw four men lined up on their knees with bandits pointing their guns right behind their heads. One of the four men that was lined seemed awfully familiar to her. Could it be? It was. Tommy was the first in the line. She began to mutter under her breath.

"Oh shit."

She went back in cover to try and tell AJ what was going on but she looked back up when she heard the sound of a loud gunshot. She couldn't believe her eyes. There he lied. Her dad's dear old brother. Dead. She didn't realize what she was doing until she heard herself.

"NOOOOO!" she screamed.

AJ immediately pulled her back under cover. He gave her a stern look in her eyes not realizing who had just been shot up ahead. His attention drew back to the bandits when he heard some of them speak.

"Hey what the hell was that?"

"Yeah I heard it too. Come out little girl. We won't bite. I promise."

The men began moving towards AJ and Ellie's direction. Ellie was disgusted by the bandits words. It brought back so many memories. Memories that she desperately wished she could get rid of.

"Aw you sick fucks." she muttered under her breath.

"Come on. We need to move. Now!"

AJ didn't wait for a response as he pulled and dragged Ellie right behind him. Ellie was shocked. She didn't expect to see this side of AJ. Hell, she didn't even know this side of him existed. But now she knew, and it kind of scared her. When he felt that they were in a good enough position, he began to speak again.

"You stay here. I mean it."

She was about to say something but thought otherwise when AJ shot her a dirty look. She decided it was best to keep her mouth shut for once in her life. There were 8 men ahead of them but that didn't scare AJ in the slightest. One by one, he silently took them out by strangling them. He almost got caught by the second last bandit but shot a bow right in between the bandit's eyes right when he was about to speak. When he realized the way was clear, he went back to Ellie.

"Alright Ellie. We need to keep moving."

Before he could get any further, Ellie grabbed his arm.

"Hey wait! Don't you want to know why I screamed?"

AJ sighed. He wasn't really in the mood to hear it. But he knew that it might be best to know.

"Alright then. Tell me." he said with a serious tone.

"The guy they shot over there...it was..Tommy."

AJ stopped dead in his tracks. Before Ellie had a chance to stop him, he ran over to where the body lied and began to stare at it in shock. Ellie came over and crouched next to him. They were both heartbroken, but they couldn't let this get to them. Ellie looked over her shoulder and saw the three other men who were lined up and still intact. She nudged AJ and they cut off the ropes that were tied around the strangers' wrists. There were also cloths put in their mouths to prevent them from speaking or screaming. AJ noticed this and took them out of their mouths. One of them caught his breath before starting to speak.

"Hey. Thanks kids. You saved our lives. What're you guys doing out here anyway? It's not safe."

Ellie didn't notice the man at first, but when she heard his voice, she remembered him. It was Earl from Tommy's crew, who she saw back in the fall.

"Earl? It's me Ellie. You remember me?"

He stared at her for a second before he remembered who she was.

"Yeah. I remember you kid. Look I'm sorry you had to see that happen to Tommy. He was a good man. A real leader. Say where's Joel? I thought you two were inseparable."

She sighed and became very upset every time she began to think about Joel. She sighed and decided to address the question.

"That's what I wanted to ask you. He was with us a while ago. But he got kidnapped when we weren't looking and we have no idea where he is now." She tried to change the subject. "Hey do you know where Maria is by any chance?"

"Oh crap! Maria! Yeah. She was with us when the bandits took us. She's right down there somewhere in that camp up ahead. Tell you what. We'll go ahead and look for Maria. You two go ahead and look for Joel. I'd hate for anything bad to happen to him. Just make sure to stay alert."

"Alright thanks Earl. Nice seeing you again."

"Nice seeing you too kid."

And with that, the men headed off in one direction and Ellie and AJ in the other. They kept silent for what seemed like forever until Ellie, like her normal self, decided to break the silence.

"Hey AJ. Sorry about back there. I really fucked up. I didn't mean to put you in danger."

He seemed way more calm than before which made Ellie relieved.

"You don't have to apologize. It's not your fault. You just acted on instinct. Just try to be careful next time. And stay close to me."

"Roger dodger."

"Look I promised Joel that I wouldn't let you get hurt in anyway and I'm not planning to break that promise."

She ran up and hugged AJ tight. She couldn't hold it in any longer. She really missed having Joel around. She was crying into AJ's shirt, and he let her, knowing that she really needed to be comforted.

"It's okay Ellie. It's okay. I swear to you, we're going to find him."

She looked straight into his eyes and was happy with what she saw. He looked more confident than she had ever seen him before and she let out a hint of a smile letting him know that she appreciated it.

"Yeah. I just hope that he's alright."


	8. The Breakdown

******A/N**

**Hey guys! I had a little extra time today and I felt bad that I was only able to get out one chapter yesterday. So to make it up, here is the third chapter of the day. Hope you guys enjoy it! Expect at least one chapter posted up tomorrow.**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

Joel was beginning to wake up and had no memory of what had happened. Once he sat up, he felt an enormous amount of pain in the side of his head and concluded that he was probably beat in the head with a bat or 2 by 4 of some sort. He was tied to a pole so he wasn't able to move out of place. He tried to figure out where he was but nothing looked familiar. It just looked like any old worn down basement, but there was almost nothing in it except for a table and a chair. It seemed more like a prison than a home. Just then, he heard the sound of a man walking down the steps.

"Well look at that. Old man finally decided to wake up."

Joel groaned in pain. He knew he wasn't going to get answers, but he had to try. "Who the hell are you? Where's Ellie?"

"You don't need to know who I am. And who in the fuck is Ellie?" He thought about it for a second. "Ohhh! You mean that little bitch that was with you when we captured you."

Joel was starting to grow enraged and could feel his head shaking so hard as if it were about to blow off.

"The hell did you just say?!"

"You heard me. What the hell are you gonna do about it? Kill me?" He chuckled under his breath. "I hate to break it you old man, but you're not going anywhere for a long, long time. It's just a matter of time before we catch your girl. And her little friend too."

The man began laughing hard. He was almost teasing Joel because Joel could not do anything to stop him. Just as he was about to head upstairs, Joel opened his mouth to speak.

"Don't you dare lay a hand on her! Or else -"

"Or else what? Huh? Look, I don't have time for this shit. I got work to do. I'll be back later. I'll even bring some of my friends too. We're going to have a lot of fun later tonight."

He smiled at Joel before walking up the stairs and shutting the door. Joel was furious. Not only with the strange man he just encountered but with himself as well. He was angry with himself because he left Ellie alone with no one to protect her. But then he thought about it and realized that she _wasn't_ alone. He totally forgot that AJ had come along with them. He kept reassuring himself that AJ would do anything to protect his baby girl, but it didn't stop him from worrying. He knew that AJ was a talented kid and he could hold his own, but the question that was haunting him was for how long? He began to mutter something to himself.

"This kid better knowing what he's doing because the last thing I need is to track down two teenagers like those two."

He wanted to try thinking of an escape plan but nothing came to mind and he knew it wasn't a good idea with his constantly aching head. He eventually decided to rest up a bit knowing that he was in for more pain later in the day.

* * *

AJ and Ellie continued on their quest of searching for Joel. Along the way, they ran into a couple of infected but it was nothing that they couldn't handle. For once, he let Ellie help him kill the enemies and it made her really happy. Once it seemed clear enough, Ellie began to talk to AJ.

"Hey. What do you think is going on right now?"

"Huh?"

"With Joel I mean. What do you think they're doing to him?"

He sighed and looked straight down at the ground ignoring Ellie for the moment. She looked at him and instantly knew that he was hiding something. She began to question him thinking that it could possibly help us find Joel.

"What's wrong? You look a little down." She asked

"Nothing. Nothing's wrong."

"You're lying. I can feel it. Come on. I thought we weren't keeping secrets from each other."

"We're not. I just..I don't like to talk about it."

"Come on AJ. Talk to me please. It might help us find him.

He looked up at Ellie and saw those big green eyes staring right in his direction. She looked like she was about to cry and he immediately gave into her demands. But not the way she had expected.

He lifted the back of his shirt to reveal a bunch of red scars. He then showed her his wrists which had rope burns on them. He was about to proceed to show her more, but she grabbed his arm stopping him. She had seen enough. He made his point. She stared at him with a sad and concerned look in her eye. She gently hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. She had no idea what had happened to him, and after he had told her, she regretted asking.

"Oh my god. I didn't know. I didn't mean to -"

"It's alright. You don't have to say anything. Can we just keep going?"

She could tell that he wanted to get off the topic. She didn't want to traumatize him anymore so she decided to just go along with it and nodded. After a while, Ellie wasn't sure what to think. She wanted to know the details, but she didn't want to ask him. She was afraid that he would get angry and flush her out like he sort of did earlier. All of a sudden, she heard words slip out of her mouth.

"Who did it?"

"Who did what?"

"You know what I mean. Who did that to you?"

She was pointing at AJ's back. She didn't expect him to answer as soon as he did.

"His name is Roger! He's the leader of these fucking bandits! It happened to me 2 years ago! I managed to escape and move on with my life! Did I miss anything?!"

She was shocked. He never yelled at her like that. She knew that she was asking a lot of questions, but she was only doing it to try and find out what they might do to Joel. She obviously crossed a line, and he had snapped. Now realizing what he had done to Ellie, he turned to her with a look of concern.

"Ellie I didn't -"

"Save it."

She looked at him once more with tears in her eyes before turning around and running off . He had never seen her look as upset and heartbroken as she did right there. He began to chase after her.

"Ellie wait!"

It wasn't until she had reached a dead end that AJ had caught up to her. Knowing that there was nowhere to go, she sat down right where she was and put her head down. AJ had come up to her and tried to comfort her by patting her shoulder but she shoved him off when she felt it.

"Don't touch me."

"Ellie. I didn't mean to yell at you."

"Then why did you?"

"Look. I'm really sorry if I hurt you. But my conscience got the best of me. I just really hate talking about what happened. I'll never yell at you like that again."

She lifted her head and he began wiping the tears away from her eyes. She seemed to have calmed down.

"You swear?"

"I swear."

"Alright. Look I'm really sorry too."

"For what?"

"For bringing back those memories. For running off like that. For everything."

He hugged her and gave her a big smile. He was relieved that she had forgiven him. She had really become the most important person in his life and he wouldn't be able to handle losing her to the world like his parents and sister. Once his mind came back to reality, he attempted to get them back on track. He knew they didn't have a lot of time. He knew that they had to find Joel and find him quick before it was too late.

"Come on Ellie. We need to get going. If I'm right, and Joel is with Roger, he may be in a whole lot of trouble."

"Right behind you." she said, with a terrified look on her face.

* * *

Joel woke up to the sound of a group of men walking down the steps in front of him. He noticed that the man who came earlier was with them as well, just like he said. The man began to speak.

"Hey old man! Y'know, I was thinking about what you said, and you're right. You have the right to know who I am. My name is Roger. I kind of run things around here."

Joel didn't like the sound of that but it's not like he didn't expect it. Roger did seem like the bossy, evil type.

"So, you ready? Now this might hurt a bit, but you'll get use to it...eventually. They all do."

Joel had no idea what the man was talking about until he felt the men brutally whip his back with sticks and belts. He couldn't stand the pain but he knew that if he showed them fear, that would mean that they won, and that's something that he would never, ever let happen. He thought about it and realized that this pain would be nothing compared to the pain of losing another daughter of his. He just hoped that AJ and Ellie got to him safe and sound.


	9. Coming Clean

**Chapter 9**

The next night, while Joel lied awake, he began to think to himself. He wondered if Ellie and AJ were looking for him. He wondered if they were okay, especially his baby girl. He began to feel guilty about not telling her the truth about what happened back in Salt Lake City. It was a guilt that he hadn't felt in a while but it slowly made its way back to him. At the time of the lie, he knew he had to tell her eventually, but now he didn't know if he would ever get the chance, and that's what haunted him. He made a promise to himself that the next time he saw her, he would tell her the truth. She had the right to know. His thoughts were broken off when he heard the sounds of footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Hey old man. How you holdin' up?"

"Do you even care?"

He laughed. "You're right. I don't. So, you ready to have some more fun tonight?"

Just then, Joel could feel the ropes on his wrists getting lose. He untied them without Roger noticing and realized that it was now or never.

"Yeah. Why not?"

He quickly jumped off the floor and caught Roger by surprise. He strangled him and didn't want to let go after all the bad things that he had said about Ellie, but he had more important things to do. Once he noticed that Roger was no longer breathing, he let him go and proceeded to look for his backpack, but it was nowhere to be found. They had taken all his supplies and weapons. He wasn't sure how he was going to get out of this mess but the thought of Ellie kept pushing him forward.

"Looks like I'm taking the stealth approach. Don't worry Ellie. I'm comin'."

And with that, he set off up the stairs, not having any clue of what lied ahead of him.

* * *

AJ hadn't slept for the last two nights. No matter how tired he was, he knew they couldn't fall asleep due to the fact that they were so close to the bandits. It was too dangerous. He let Ellie sleep knowing just how tired she was and he just kept lookout to make sure nothing happened. That night, Ellie spoke up about the matter.

"Hey AJ. Aren't you tired?"

He nodded. "Yeah I guess but -"

"Then it's settled. You need some sleep."

He sighed. "I guess you're right. But just a little. I can't leave you alone for too long with these bastards around.

"Don't worry. I can handle myself."

She laughed but made sure that AJ had fallen asleep before starting to keep lookout. After about 20 minutes, nothing had happened, and Ellie had started to get bored. She was about to pull out one of her comics when she heard the sound of rustling in the bushes. She pulled out her pistol and started to speak.

"Who's there?"

No answer.

"Come out."

Still no answer.

She was about to go back to reading her comic when a man suddenly grabbed her by the neck and started choking her. She tried yelling for AJ, but it was no use. For a second, she thought her time was up. She thought she had let herself, her mom and Joel down. But just for a second.

The sound of a gunshot broke her train of thoughts. She noticed the man had let go of her and when she looked at him, there was blood spilling right out of his forehead.

"What the hell?" she thought.

AJ had woken up to the sound of a gunshot. He looked over and saw the man dead on the ground. He questioned Ellie immediately.

"Ellie, what the hell happened?"

"I-I don't know. One minute I'm getting strangled by this guy, and the next, he's dead."

He stared at her with a hopeful look in his eye. "You think it could be him?"

"I-I'm not sure. I mean I hope so, but I won't believe it until I see him."

They didn't even notice the figure approaching when they were talking. Until the figure spoke that is.

"That the thanks I get for saving your life?"

Ellie turned around knowing that she could recognize that Southern accent anywhere. It was Joel. She ran in and gave him a big hug like never before.

"Oh my god! Dad!"

"Hey baby girl. You alright?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. We're fine." She looked over at AJ and smiled. She looked back at Joel and saw the bruises on his wrists.

"Oh shit. Are you alright?"

"It's nothing kiddo. Look we need to get going. I'll explain everything when we get back. We need to get moving. Now."

"Sure thing."

They had started to run. They didn't care if any infected showed up right now because the last thing they needed was for these maniacs to find them. After a number of hours of walking, they had finally made it back to AJ's house. Everyone was still in one piece and they were happy about that. They sat down and tried to catch their breath. When Joel was ready to talk, he brought up a conversation.

"Ellie. I need to talk to you."

"About what?"

He looked over at AJ. "I think you should stay too. She might hate me after I tell her this."

Ellie looked at Joel with a worried look in her eyes. She had never seen that look in his eyes that clearly before. It was guilt. He was guilty of something and she had to know what it was.

"Dad. What the hell did you do?"

He sighed. "Listen, what I told you about the fireflies back there. It wasn't the truth."

He heart shattered. She couldn't believe it. Hell, she didn't want to believe it.

"What are you saying?"

"Look before I tell you, I need you to promise me that you won't pull one of your crazy runaway stunts this time."

She was hesitant but eventually agreed. "Now what is it. Tell me."

"I'm not sure how to say it so -"

"Just tell me! What the hell happened back there?"

He sighed. He had no choice. He had to tell her. "I killed them. The fireflies. Marlene. All of 'em. They were going to kill you just for that god damn cure Ellie."

She was livid. She couldn't believe it. Did he really kill Marlene? She didn't really care about the fireflies that much. They weren't great people to begin with. But Marlene? She was like a second mother to her and he took that away from her.

"WHAT THE FUCK! How could you do that! You know how much she means to me! What did she ever do to you!"

Joel tried to say something but Ellie put her hand up, signaling him to save the trouble. He could see the pain growing in her eyes and she burst into tears. She immediately ran up the stairs not knowing how else to react. She slammed the door right behind her, but before she did, she had one last thing to say to Joel.

"Don't you ever speak to me again!"

His heart shattered with the sound of the door slamming. He knew she wasn't going to take it well but he didn't think she was going to get this angry. And he knew that when Ellie got this angry, she wasn't actually the easiest to calm down. He tried to get up and head upstairs but AJ held him back.

"I really don't think you should do that."

"Kid. I know you mean well. But I need to fix this."

"Did you not hear her? She doesn't want to see you right now."

"Yeah but -"

"Listen. I'll go have a talk with her. I'll try to fix this. You just stay down here."

Joel wasn't sure if that was a good idea but he knew that that was his best bet. He simply nodded and obliged.

"Alright."

AJ headed up the stairs and towards the room Ellie was in. Before he opened the door, he looked back down at Joel, took a deep breath, and muttered something to himself.

"Here we go."


	10. Broken

**Chapter 10**

Ellie was heartbroken. She spent all this time caring for this man. Heck, she even saved his life a couple of times. And how does he repay her? By shooting her surrogate mother. She didn't really know why he did it, but the fact that he did it made her furious. She stopped listening to what he was saying right when she heard him say that he killed Marlene. She didn't want to believe it but knew that he couldn't be lying about something this serious and that he was completely capable of doing something like that. Just then, she heard the sound of the doorknob twist and she began to stare hard at the door.

"What the fuck are you doing up here Joel! I said I didn't - ...Oh. AJ. It's you."

She slowly started to calm down at the site of AJ. She didn't want him to see her looking like this, all broken down and in tears. He walked over and tried his best to comfort her.

"Look Ellie. I'm really sorry about what he did to Marlene. What he did was wrong. But I still think that you should listen to what he has to say."

"Why should I?"

"Because you're only aware of what he did. You didn't listen to why he did it. You're not realizing the bigger picture."

"Even if I find out why he did it, it's not going to bring back Marlene, is it!"

"Ellie. Listen. He said that they were going to kill you. Apparently they had to kill you in order to extract the vaccine from your brain."

She was in shock. Could it be true? Was she going to die at the hospital at the hands of the Fireflies without her permission? Either way, she still felt guilty because she was alive and all the people that she ever got close to were dead.

"Well maybe I wanted to sacrifice myself for the cure! Maybe I wanted to help the world. Make a difference. I shouldn't even be alive right now, but because of him, I am!"

"Ellie don't say that. I know it hurts but there's more to life than feeling guilty about what happened in the past. You have to move on. You're alive for a reason. You two were meant to be together as father and daughter. He loves you, and deep down, you know that you still love him too no matter what he did. Now I don't know about you, but I would die to have my dad back in my life. And I just don't want you two to grow apart because of a damn lie."

Ellie stared back at AJ in disbelief. He seemed to be emotionally worn out. It wasn't his job to help them make up, but he did it because he wanted to. She thought about and realized he was right. Being angry about this lie wasn't worth losing the closest thing to a father she's ever had. She decided that she needed to go back downstairs to Joel and get more answers from him.

"Alright. I guess you're right. Come on. I need to go talk to him."

AJ was proud of himself. He was happy that he was able to somehow able to change Ellie's mind about talking to Joel.

"See. I knew you couldn't live without your daddy."

She chuckled. "Shut up. Don't make me kick your ass."

He laughed. "Ouuuu. I'm so scared."

She didn't appreciate AJ's remarks at the moment and simply decided to ignore it for the time being.

"I'll deal with you later. I got more important things to do."

AJ laughed and followed close behind her. She walked up to Joel who was sitting with his head down on the table. He didn't even notice Ellie standing next to him when she began to speak.

"Hey..uhh..dad? Can we talk?"

He lifted his head in amazement. He couldn't believe that Ellie was talking to him again after what she had said. It was a miracle. He knew this was AJ's doing and he had to thank him somehow later on. He smiled at Ellie who returned it right back.

"Yeah sure thing kiddo. Look, I'm really sorry about..you know...but I can show you why I did it."

What did he mean show her? She didn't understand but was curious enough, so she let him continue. She witnessed him reach into his bag and pull out three recorders. They were the recorders from the hospital. One recorder had the voice of a doctor whereas the other two had Marlene's voice. One by one he played them out loud so that the three of them could hear every single word. Once he played all of them, he looked back at Ellie.

She had a blank look on her face. She couldn't believe it. Marlene _was_ going to kill her. And she didn't even have the decency to tell her to her face. She looked back at Joel and felt really bad about all the things she had said to him. Now she realized why he had done it. He loved her so much and he couldn't handle losing another daughter. They needed each other and they did everything they could to make sure that the other was okay. Before she knew it, she was hugging Joel so tight as if she never wanted to let him go. He hugged her back knowing how hurt and desperate she was for comfort at the time.

"Promise me. Promise me that you'll never leave me." She said.

He kissed her on the forehead. "Oh baby girl. I promise."

She gave him the smallest hint of a smile. They were silent for a while until Joel tried changing the subject.

"So, were you guys able to find Tommy and Maria?"

Ellie didn't want to be the one to break the bad news to Joel. She nudged AJ telling him to tell Joel what happened.

"Well Joel. I'm sorry to tell you this. But you're brother...he's dead."

Joel's face turned pale. He couldn't believe his ears. After so many years of knowing that his little brother was around to comfort him when he needed him the most, he was gone. Ellie noticed Joel's state and hugged him immediately.

"I'm so sorry dad. We tried. But we were too late."

Joel was still very upset but then he realized something. They had only mentioned Tommy. They hadn't mentioned anything about Maria.

"What about Maria?"

Ellie let out a huge sigh. Joel instantly expected disappointment. "We didn't find her. That guy Earl from Tommy's crew. You remember him? Yeah he was captured too and we were able to save him. He told us that he would go looking for Maria but we haven't seen him since. And we saw him 2 days ago."

"Well seeing as though we didn't notice them on our way back, we have no choice but to assume the worst. They're most likely dead. And it's too dangerous for us to go back and look for them."

"Yeah I know."

He tried to change the subject. He was tired of this talk that was making them all depressed.

"Alright. I think we should eat and get some sleep. We've been on a hell of a ride as of late and we need to get as much sleep as we can get."

"Yeah. You got that right. Let's eat!" said AJ.

They prepared their meal. They made a whole pot of stir fry. It tasted more delicious than ever considering the fact that they hadn't had a lot to eat in days. Once they were done, and all the plates were washed, Joel went over to Ellie and AJ.

"So kids. What did you guys want to do tomorrow? I reckon we should try to have a little fun sooner rather than later."

"Hunting! No. Swimming! No. Guitar! No." said Ellie.

AJ chuckled. "How about we do all three? It'd be the most fun we had since you guys got here."

"Great idea. Can we do all three dad? Please!"

He couldn't resist. There they were again. Those big, green, beautiful eyes. It's like every time he looked at them, he was under her control or something. Nevertheless, he gave in, and they were set to go hunting, swimming, and learn to play the guitar the very next day.

"Well looks like we got a busy day ahead of ourselves tomorrow. Get some rest kids."

And so the three of them dozed off to sleep, knowing that they were in store for some hard earned fun the following day.


	11. Hidden Talents

**Chapter 11**

The next morning, it was really peaceful and quiet inside the house. Joel had just woken up to the sudden sound of something moving from downstairs and was immediately alarmed. He noticed that Ellie wasn't next to him so he got a little worried and decided to go check it out. When he was downstairs, he was relieved to see that Ellie was alright. She was sitting at the table alone and she gave him a big smile when she saw him.

"Hey baby girl! What are you doing up so early? It's not like you."

"Well I guess I was just a little excited about today." She thought about something for a second before speaking again. "Sorry. Did I wake you up? I didn't mean to make noise."

"Don't worry you're little head about it. I was probably going to get up soon anyways."

"Alright. Well here..." She pointed towards the old stove in the corner. "Since you guys were still sleeping, I thought I would make breakfast."

"Now hold on just a second. Since when did you know how to cook?"

She laughed. "There's a lot of things you still don't know about me dad. You'll find out sooner or later. I learned how to cook some things back in the Boston QZ."

"I wish you had told me that earlier. We could have taken turns making meals."

She chuckled. "But that would mean more work. And you know me. I hate having to do work."

He snickered. "Alright then, so what did you make?"

"I made scrambled eggs and bacon."

He looked at the dish with a surprised look on a face. It actually didn't look that bad. In fact, it looked pretty delicious.

"Well I don't really know how good of a cook you are, but I guess a taste wouldn't kill me."

He put the food in his mouth and it was the best thing that he had ever tasted in a while. In a way, he was actually proud that she was actually learning to do things on her own without him by her side to help her out. Once he was done, he put his fork down and started to speak.

"Wow."

"What?"

"This is actually really good. It's delicious."

"Really?" She wasn't sure if he was telling the truth but she had a growing suspicion that he was lying. "You're totally fucking with me, aren't you?"

"No I'm serious. I haven't tasted anything this good since...since before the outbreak I think."

She had an enormous smile on her face. "Well thank you. Hey wait. Maybe that's something you can teach me."

"What's that?"

"You can teach me how to cook things that I never learned how to."

"You got it. Well we should get going soon if you want to do all that stuff today. Go wake up that boy and bring him downstairs."

"Aren't you ever going to call him by his name?"

He laughed. "Soon enough. But for now, I'm okay with calling him that boy."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll be back. Don't go anywhere without me."

"I ain't going nowhere kiddo."

Ellie walked up the stairs and entered AJ's room. She hadn't been in his room a lot. As a matter fact, the last time she was in his room was the day that they met him. She had to admit, he looked cute when he was sleeping. She continuously stared at him for a few moments before leaning into kiss him on the cheek. He felt the gentle touch of two soft lips pressing against his cheeks and immediately opened his eyes. He was happy to see Ellie's face in the morning. She made him feel that life was worth living. She gave him love. And for him, that was enough.

"Hey there handsome. Time to wake up."

"Hey Ellie. What time is it?"

"It's about 9 in the morning." Just then, she remembered what he had said just a day before about her needing her daddy and she immediately reacted by punching in the arm.

"Ow. What the hell was that for?"

"You seriously don't remember?"

"What the hell are you...Oh, right...yeah sorry. I guess I deserved that one."

"Yeah, no shit. Look, you may be my really cute boyfriend, but you can be a dick at times, and I'm not afraid to kick your ass."

He laughed. "Fair enough. I wish I could say the same to you. But, I'm a gentleman. And real men don't hit beautiful girls like you."

She began to turn bright red at the comment. She really had found the perfect guy for herself. A guy who was genuinely nice to her, but also knew how to take care of himself and the ones he loved.

"And that's why I love you."

"I love you too Ellie."

They gazed into each other's eyes before locking into each other's lips for a kiss that could have lasted forever. It was only the sound of Joel that ruined the moment.

"Ellie. You guys doing all right up there?"

She sighed. She was upset that Joel had ruined the beautiful moment that she was having with AJ. But she was kind of glad, because the sooner they stopped, the sooner they could leave.

"Yeah we're fine dad. We'll be down in a minute. Come on AJ. Get changed and meet us downstairs. I made breakfast for you."

"Seriously?"

AJ wasn't sure what to say. He appreciated the gesture of Ellie cooking for him but he didn't really know how good of a cook Ellie really was. And that's what worried him. She saw the look in his eye and immediately budded into his thoughts.

"Relax. My dad said that he really liked it. I'm sure that you'll love it too."

"Oh. Alright then. Be right down."

She turned around and was headed for the door. She was about to leave the room but had the sudden urge to tell AJ one last thing.

"Hey AJ?"

"Yeah Ell?"

"I just wanted to let you know that I may be cute when I sleep, but I'm definitely not the only one."

They both smiled at each other before Ellie turned around and headed back towards the door. She shut the door tight and ran back downstairs to meet up with Joel.

After a matter of minutes, AJ was downstairs and had already eaten his breakfast. Even he thought that Ellie's cooking was magnificent no matter how much he wanted to tell her it wasn't. Once they were all set and ready to go, Joel spoke up.

"So kids. What did you guys want to do first?"

They looked at each other and decided that swimming would be the best option. They felt it was the most important, and frankly, it hadn't been this nice outside for a matter of weeks so they knew that they had to take advantage of it.

"Alright then. Sounds like a plan. So AJ, you know any place near here that we could maybe teach Ellie to swim?"

He thought about it for a second before responding.

"Well there aren't a lot of places I can think of. But there is one. It's not too far from here and I'm sure that not a lot of people know about it, so we probably won't run into any trouble there."

"Well sounds good. But you know, we can never be safe. Grab your bags and weapons kids. It's better to be safe than sorry."

They nodded and grabbed their things.

"Alright. Lead the way kid."

"Sure thing. Just follow me, and keep an eye out."

"Hey dad? Can we take the motorcycle this time?"

He looked at her and simply obliged. He didn't want to take the motorcycle originally but then thought about it and realized that if they did happen to get into trouble, it could probably be useful.

"Yeah sure why not? I miss riding around on my old one anyway."

AJ and Ellie had a big smile on their faces.

"Well alright! Get on then!" said AJ.

Once the three of them were on, AJ wanted to make sure that they were safe before they took off.

"Everyone good?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. Hold on tight now."

And so, they headed off towards their destination with strong hopes that they could finally have a peaceful day without having to deal with any of the shit that was still left in the corrupted world they lived in.


	12. The Perfect Day

**Chapter 12**

While they were riding along, Ellie was growing bored and impatient and was starting to question AJ about what he had said earlier.

"Are we there yet?"

"Almost. We'll be there soon."

"I thought you said it was close by."

"It is close. Pretty close atleast."

"This is close to you? We've been riding for 15 minutes already."

"Look do you want to learn to swim or not?"

She sighed. "Yeah I guess. Sorry, I'm just really bored."

"That's alright. Hey look over there."

AJ was pointing to something in the distance. When Joel and Ellie looked over his shoulder, they saw a small body of water that looked surprisingly clean. Once they got to the river, they got off the motorcycle and Joel started to speak.

"Hey nice find kid. I haven't seen anything this clean in a while."

"Yeah well I told you. I don't think a lot of people know about it." Ellie budded into their conversation.

"Can we start already? I want to get this over with. I mean I want to have fun, but we got other stuff to do today too."

Joel snickered. "Sure thing baby girl. Go on behind one of those trees and change into your bathing suit."

"Bathing suit?"

Joel thought about it for a second and then realized that she didn't have a bathing suit. They never really got the chance to go to a run-down store and find one either.

"Oh shit. That's right. You don't have one. Alright whatever. We'll have to work around it. Just take off your sweater and leave it on the side. You're gonna need it to warm you up after we're done. You have an extra pair of shorts in your bag right?"

She nodded and obliged. When she came out, she noticed that Joel was already in the water with his top off. She felt kind of awkward because she had never seen him like that, but she figured that it was no big deal. Then she looked over and saw AJ taking his shirt off as well. She couldn't help but stare. His body looked just so perfect. It was so evenly toned and looked so strong. Her thoughts were interrupted with the sound of someone speaking. In an instant, AJ was right next to her.

"You okay there Ellie?"

"Yeah I'm fine, why?"

"Then why are you drooling?"

She didn't realize what he was talking about until she noticed a drop of saliva from her mouth hanging from the side of her lips. She quickly wiped it off in embarassment.

"Oh...sorry..it's just..I've never seen any boys like that, y'know, with their shirts off. And I guess I felt sort of attracted."

He smiled. "Hey it happens. No need to be ashamed of it. You don't look half bad yourself."

She knew that he was just trying to be nice but she took it as a compliment. "Hey, let's get going Ellie. Your dad's waiting." She closely followed behind AJ toward the water but seemed hesitant once they were a few feet away. When AJ looked back at her, he noticed the scared look on her face and tried to comfort her.

"Ellie. Come in the water. It's alright. I won't let anything happen to you."

"Is it cold?"

"A little. But don't worry. You'll get use to it. I promise."

He held out his hand trying to persuade her to come into the water. She thought about it before giving him her hand. Before she knew it, she was already in the water with a hard splash. He had yanked her in.

She had an angry look on her face. She was freezing. "What the hell was that for?!"

He laughed. "You were taking too long. Sorry. I was just trying to help."

She splashed him and then giggled. "You could have killed me. You're damn right you're going to be sorry!"

He had a terrified look on his face, but that quickly changed when he saw a small smile grow on Ellie's face.

"I'm just kidding. I'll let you go...this time. But next time, I swear to god - "

"Yeah yeah I know. You'll kick my ass. I get it."

She laughed. "Someone's finally starting to learn something."

He chuckled. "Let's just go over to Joel and teach you how to swim."

They slowly walked through the water in Joel's direction. He could hear them coming but he was busy floating in the water staring straight up into the sky.

"Hey dad! What are you doing?"

"What's it look like I'm doing? I'm floating."

"That's so fucking cool. Lemme try."

"Now Ellie. I don't know if that's such a good idea."

Before he knew it, she was already trying to mimic Joel. She attempted to lay flat in the water but sank right to the bottom. It was something she didn't expect and she began to recklessly flail her arms and legs.

"Dad! Dad! I need help!"

"Ellie. It's not that deep. Just stand up."

She listened and surprisingly he was right. It wasn't that deep. She looked up and saw AJ and Joel burst out laughing. She felt quite embarrassed at the moment. She did the only thing she could think of at the moment and that was to splash them.

"Hey it's not funny! I thought I was drowning."

"I'm sorry honey. But it was kind of funny."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

Joel felt bad and decided to comfort her by giving her a little squeeze.

"Look I'm sorry. I'll try not to laugh at you anymore. Now let's just teach you how to swim."

She appreciated the comfort that she was receiving from Joel. "Yeah. Let's do this."

After a matter of hours, Ellie had learned the basics of swimming. As a matter of fact, she actually seemed like quite the talented swimmer. She had learned how to float on her back, how to doggy paddle, and how to do a butterfly. She was proud of herself for finally learning to swim.

"Ha. I did it. I am a natural. Maybe, I'll be a better swimmer than you one day dad."

He chuckled. "No way in hell."

She laughed at the remark. "Yeah probably not, but I had to say it. Anyway, thanks for teaching me how to swim. It really means a lot. You too AJ."

While Joel was teaching her the motions of how to swim, AJ was holding her up while she was trying to mimic what Joel was showing her. She liked the feeling of AJ holding her. It was different, but in a good way. She just hoped that it wouldn't be the last time he held her like that.

"Alright. I think we're done here. Since we're already out, we might as well go hunting next. Go on and get changed and we'll get going." said Joel.

After they had gotten changed, they headed off into the woods that was near the water. It seemed like a good place for hunting. It was a good day for them. They had managed to get two deer, four rabbits and five squirrels. Ellie was especially proud of her work.

"Looks like I'm the best hunter of the three of us."

"How so?" said AJ.

"Well I'm the one who killed both deer."

"It's not a competition."

She snickered. "Says the one who lost!"

"Look, you just got lucky okay. I just had a bad day. That's all."

She was a little upset with AJ's remark. She may not actually the best hunter out there but she didn't appreciate the fact that AJ was referring to all her kills as being lucky.

"Okay. I admit I have been a bit lucky today. But that doesn't mean that I don't know how to hunt."

He chuckled. "That's all I was looking for. I'm not saying you can't shoot. You've got a hell of a shot actually. I like that about you."

She started to blush but waved him off after a few moments. Joel budded in.

"Alright kids. We should get going. It's getting a little chilly out and I think we've found enough food to last us quite a long time."

They nodded with Ellie responding.

"Sure thing."

They headed back to AJ's house on the motorcycle. Once they were back, they felt safe. They kept their guard down. That was until they heard a noise.

"Oh shit. Everyone get inside!" yelled Joel.

Just as they walked through the door, they heard the sound of a gunshot and a scream to go along with it. The shot had hit its mark. Ellie was bent over in pain. The bullet had grazed the side of her right leg and she couldn't move.

"ELLIE!"

They shut the door with the three of them now safely inside. Ellie was beginning to bleed heavily and Joel was beginning to become frightened. All the memories of Sarah were starting to come back. He held her close.

"Ellie. Stay with me baby girl. Stay with me." He stopped when he heard the sound of AJ's voice.

"Joel, watch out!"

He moved Ellie and himself just in time to see the window that was next to him a few moments ago shatter into tiny pieces.

"Joel take Ellie to my room. Get her patched up."

Joel thought about what AJ had said. But he wanted revenge against the men who did this. He wanted to take care of them himself.

"No AJ. You take her. I got this."

AJ was shocked. "You sure?"

"Yes! I'm gonna kill the bastard who did this! Now go!"

AJ began carrying the wounded Ellie upstairs before turning around and addressing Joel.

"Hey Joel. You be careful."

"You too kid. Please don't let anything happen to her. I'm trusting you with my baby girl's life, and that's something I'm not very fond of doing."

He looked at Joel and saw a tear escape from his eye. He had a really worried look on his face. AJ replied with confidence.

"Don't worry Joel. She's not leaving either of us. I won't let her."

He turned around and headed back up the stairs to start patching Ellie up. Once AJ was out of sight, Joel turned his focus to the window and examined the area for any movement. All of a sudden, he saw him. He muttered something very quietly to himself in an angry tone.

"I got you now you son of a bitch!"


	13. Ellie's Wish Comes True

**Chapter 13**

AJ had taken Ellie up to his room and placed her gently on top of the bed. She looked so vulnerable in pain. There were so many emotions going through him right now but he knew that he had to put them aside for the time being to take care of Ellie. He took a rag out of his backpack and put a little alcohol on it. He then gently took the rag and rubbed it lightly against the wound.

"AHH! That stings like a bitch!" said Ellie.

"Sorry. Sorry. There that's it. Let me just go get a med kit."

He went back into his backpack and found 2 med kits. He decided to wrap both around the wound thinking that it may help provide more protection. Once he was done, he looked up at Ellie.

"There. All done. Does it feel okay? Is it too tight?"

She looked deeply in his eyes. She appreciated the amount of concern he had. She really began to see how much AJ truly loved her.

"No. It's fine. Thanks."

She reached out and grabbed his hand and squeezed it. He responded to this gesture by kissing her hand and forehead.

"I'm going to go check on Joel. He might need some help down there with those fuckers. Stay up here and try to get some rest. And please, don't try anything stupid...for me.."

"No promises."

He chuckled and kissed her one last time on the forehead before leaving the room. He walked down the stairs only to have a bullet graze the tip of his hair.

"Oh shit! That was close."

"Get down son!"

Another shot came in and it almost hit AJ again but he ducked just in time to avoid the contact.

"Where's Ellie? She doing alright?"

"Yeah. She'll be fine. So how many are we dealing with?"

"Not exactly sure. I counted five earlier but these damn hunters are sneaky. Already killed two of them though."

AJ looked at his rifle and counted the number of bullets. He had three bullets left.

"Perfect."

He placed the rifle up on his shoulder, but before he could shoot, he was interrupted by Joel.

"Wait, what in the sam hell are you doing?"

"Hey. You had your chance to finish 'em off...now it's my turn to clean up your mess." He laughed.

Joel laughed at the comment. "Alright. Well go on then. Show me what you're made of kid."

"Sure thing."

Once again, AJ readied his rifle. He waited for the hunters to pop their heads out and the only sounds that could be heard were BANG! BANG! BANG! Three shots, three targets, three hits. AJ had hit and killed all three hunters within a matter of seconds. He double checked to make sure there were no more lurking around before looking back over at Joel. Joel had a proud look on his face.

"Nice shooting kid. Y'know you kind of remind me of myself back when I was a young boy."

"I know! I'm awesome right!"

Joel chuckled. "Alright kid! Hold your horses. Don't flatter yourself. There's always room for improvement, no matter how good you already are."

"Whatever you say."

Joel rolled his eyes at him before responding. "We should go check on Ellie. Knowing her, she's probably really lonely and bored up there."

"Yeah. I think you're right."

They both walked up the stairs and entered AJ's room. She was still lying there in the same position that AJ left her in. She tried to rest but couldn't with the sound of all the gunshots downstairs. She also didn't want to move because she was afraid that if she did, the pain would only get worse. Just then, she heard Joel speaking to her.

"Hey baby girl. How you holdin' up?"

"I'm fine dad. AJ took good care of me. He made me feel a lot better."

Joel shot a look at AJ. AJ didn't know what to think. Joel began walking towards him, and AJ was terrified about what would happen next. When he least expected it, Joel wrapped him up in a giant bear hug and they enjoyed the moment.

"Wow my dad and my boyfriend hugging! Didn't think I would ever see that!"

The three of them laughed. It was true. None of them expected it. But Joel and AJ grew a real liking to each other and they felt that it was finally time to show it.

Joel began to think for a second. He remembered back in the university when he told Ellie that he wanted to become a singer. She wanted him to sing for her so badly but he was too embarrassed. Now that he saw her in pain and upset, he figured that now was as good a time as ever. He just wanted to make her happy and knew that she always wanted to hear him sing.

"Hey AJ! By any chance, do you own a six string?"

AJ paused for a moment before responding to the question.

"Actually..."

He walked over to the closet and opened the door. He pulled something out and actually looked in somewhat new condition. _It was a beautiful guitar._ Ellie had a big smile on her face when she saw the guitar and Joel noticed it.

"Are you going to teach me how to play the guitar now dad?"

"Yeah I will. But before I do, I wanted to do something special for you."

She wasn't really sure what he was talking about, but she was curious so she motioned him to carry on with what he was saying.

"Well you remember back in the university? You asked me to sing to you and I refused. Well I feel really bad about that and I thought that now would be a good time to sing for you."

She started to cry. She thought that he would never sit down and sing for her. It warmed her heart like nothing had ever done before. Joel saw her cry and was a little worried.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yeah. It's just...I never thought you would sing for me. Ever. And now that you're singing for me, it makes me feel really special."

"Oh alright. Well here it goes."

AJ and Ellie sat back as Joel tuned and began to strum the guitar. He decided to play a song called "My Little Girl" because it was a song that he use to sing all the time to Sarah. He opened his mouth and started to sing.

_**"Gotta hold on easy as I let you go**__**  
**__**Gonna tell you how much I love you**__**  
**__**Though you think you already know**__**  
**__**I remember I thought you looked like an angel wrapped in pink so soft and warm**__**  
**__**You've had me wrapped around your finger since the day you were born"**__****_

_**"You're beautiful baby from the outside in**__**  
**__**Chase your dreams but always know the road that'll lead you home again**__**  
**__**Go on, take on this whole world**__**  
**__**But to me you know you'll always be, my little girl"**__****_

_**"When you were in trouble that crooked little smile could melt my heart of stone**__**  
**__**Now look at you, I've turned around and you've almost grown**__**  
**__**Sometimes you're asleep I whisper "I Love You" in the moonlight at your door**__**  
**__**As I walk away, I hear you say, "Daddy Love You More""**__****_

_**"You're beautiful baby from the outside in**__**  
**__**Chase your dreams but always know the road that'll lead you home again**__**  
**__**Go on, take on this whole world**__**  
**__**But to me you know you'll always be, my little girl"**_

Before singing the next part of the song, he pointed at AJ and smiled indicating that the next part was about him.

_**"Someday, some boy will come and ask me for your hand**__**  
**__**But I won't say "yes" to him unless I know, he's the half**__**  
**__**That makes you whole, he has a poet's soul, and the heart of a man's man**__**  
**__**I know he'll say that he's in love**__**  
**__**But between you and me**__**  
**__**He won't be good enough"**_

AJ couldn't help but laugh at what Joel had just sang, and neither could Ellie. They knew for a fact that that was what Joel probably thought about AJ deep down._****_

_**"You're beautiful baby from the outside in**__**  
**__**Chase your dreams but always know the road that'll lead you home again**__**  
**__**Go on, take on this whole world**__**  
**__**But to me you know you'll always be, my little girl"**_

He looked up into those big green eyes nervously. For a second he thought that she had hated it. That she didn't like his voice. Then she shot a big smile in his direction and hobbled off the bed to give him a big hug.

"Thanks dad! That was awesome! I love you so fucking much!"

"I love you very much too Ellie!"

"So are you going to teach me how to play now?"

"Well actually, I was thinking that maybe I could teach you tomorrow. If that's okay with you. It's been a long day and I'm actually dead tired."

She was really keen on learning how to play the guitar today. She wanted to accomplish all the goals that she set for the day. But, she was happy that Joel had finally sang to her. It made her feel important and showed her that he really does care about her so much. She decided to let him rest for the night. It was the least she could do.

"Yeah that's fine. There's always tomorrow."

Joel leaned in to kiss her on the forehead. Then he realized that she was in AJ's room and he questioned her.

"So did you want to sleep in here tonight?"

She thought about it for a second before responding.

"Can I?"

"If AJ is alright with it, then it's alright with me."

AJ budded in with no hesitation.

"Yeah sure. I'd love the company."

Joel's parental side kicked in. He didn't mean for it to but it wasn't something that he could actually control. This was the first time Ellie was sleeping without him since they met. It was tough.

"Alright. I just want to make things clear -"

"No need Joel. I understand. I won't try anything. I care about her very much and I would never do anything to hurt her."

"Good man."

Ellie rolled her eyes. As Joel was heading to walk out the door, he heard Ellie say one last thing to him. "Good night dad!"

"Night baby girl."


	14. Quick Learner

**Chapter 14**

The next morning, Joel was the first to have woken up. Without hesitation, he went over to AJ's room to check on Ellie. When he entered the room, he noticed that she was sound asleep and that she was cuddled awfully close with AJ. He was about to go ahead and try to separate them but he didn't want to wake up Ellie in the process, so he decided to just let them be. When he headed back towards the door, he heard Ellie speak and immediately turned to face her.

"Dad?"

"Hey honey. How you feeling today?"

"Never better." she said sarcastically. She attempted to get up off the bed slowly but was halted by Joel.

"Whoa there. I don't think that's a good idea. You should rest up that leg before you start to walk on it."

She shrugged him off. "I'll be fine. It's not like I broke my ankle or anything."

He thought about it for a second before he obliged. The last thing he wanted was for her to feel trapped inside a room because she would get bored, meaning that she would start to annoy him more and more. She began to walk and he decided to help her out.

"Alright then. At least let me help you out kiddo. Here. Wrap your arm around my neck and lean on me."

She obliged. She wanted to try and walk herself to show Joel how tough she really was, but the truth was that it was really painful and she didn't want to make her leg feel worse than it already did. Once they got downstairs, Joel gently helped Ellie sit down on the couch.

"Now, I'm going to go make some breakfast. You stay there."

"You sure you don't need any help?"

"Thanks. But I'll be fine for one day kiddo. You just sit there and relax."

She sighed. "Alright."

After a few minutes, Ellie was starting to get bored. Joel wouldn't really let her do much. All she could do was sit around and watch him do things. Just then, she heard the sound of AJ screaming her name.

"Ellie!"

"Down here."

He opened the door to his room and saw Ellie sitting on the couch waving her hand at him.

"Oh." He felt embarrassed. "Sorry. I woke up and you weren't next to me so I thought -"

She smiled and began to giggle.

"It's fine. I'm alright. I've never seen you so scared in your life. You must really care about me a lot."

He snickered. "I thought that was obvious."

They both smiled at each other before the moment was interrupted by the sound of Joel's voice.

"Alright kids. Breakfast is ready. Cooked up a couple of those rabbits we found the other day."

"Awesome! I'm fucking starving." said Ellie. AJ budded in.

"Aren't you always starving?"

"What are you saying? Are you calling me fat?"

"No I-"

"Dad, do I look fat to you?" Joel didn't know what to say that.

"Uhh..."

"Oh my god. I _am_ fat. I can't believe this." She covered her face. It looked like she was in tears.

However, when AJ and Joel both approached her to try and comfort her, she lifted her head with a big smile on her face.

"I'm just fucking with you two. You guys are so gullible."

The three of them started to laugh at the moment. Ellie made it seem so real. They hadn't noticed it at first, but Ellie was starting to turn out to be quite the drama queen.

"Hey dad. Remember back in Pittsburgh. When we saw that poster of that really skinny girl. You said she chose not to eat her food. Well I don't want to be like her. I'll have as much as food as I want and I don't care what anybody has to say about it."

She looked up and saw the look on AJ's face. She couldn't really tell what he was thinking. It was really weird. He had such a straight face going on at the moment.

"AJ. You're not looking for one of those girls, right? Those skinny girls that never eat. Because if you are, I'm sorry but I can't be with you anymore." She had a smile on her face when she said this trying her best to hold back a laugh.

"No. I like you for who you are. You're just right for me and that's what makes you special."

She hugged him right when he uttered those words. "You always know how to make a girl feel special don't you?"

He chuckled. "I guess so."

They smiled at each other once more before they began to eat the breakfast that Joel had prepared. It was quite delicious. Once they were done, Ellie began to speak up.

"So are you going to teach me how to play guitar now dad?"

"Actually.."

"Aww. Are you going to postpone this again?" She looked very upset.

"No. I was just thinking that maybe it would be better if AJ teaches you to play. I think you two really need the bonding time. Don't worry. I'll be here though to make sure he's teaching you right."

She smiled at the gesture and actually appreciated the fact that Joel was okay with her spending so much time with AJ.

"Alright. AJ can you teach me then?"

"Sure thing Ell. Be right back."

He grabbed his guitar from his room, headed downstairs and handed the instrument to Ellie.

"Alright now come sit on my lap."

She wasn't sure if it was a good idea, with Joel sitting right there and all. She thought that it would be uncomfortable for him. But strangely enough, he motioned her to go ahead and listen to what AJ was saying. She obliged. He put his hands on hers. She felt remarkably comfortable. She could feel him breathing on her neck and the feeling of his hands on top of hers made her feel like she was floating in thin air.

"Okay Ell. Listen here. I've put your fingers in the right places. Now all you need to do is strum."

She did what she was told and all she heard was a beautiful sound come from the guitar. She was ecstatic.

"Oh my god! That's so awesome! Teach me more."

They kept at it for about two more hours. Ellie was starting to remember where her hands went for each note and she was beginning to get better and better. She was a really quick learner at everything she did. Joel was nothing but proud. She had come so far after everything that had happened to her in the past. He was just happy that he was finally able to have some quality time with her. An hour later, she was able to play the song that Joel had played the night before almost flawlessly.

"Man. I didn't think that playing guitar could be so much fun! But boy, was I wrong."

Joel laughed. It wasn't often that Ellie admitted herself to being wrong about something, but when she did, she always expressed it in a funny tone.

"Alright baby girl. I think that's enough playing for today."

She looked sad but she sighed and nodded. "I guess you're right."

"Don't worry. We'll play again soon enough."

She smiled. She then went over to hug AJ. She was very thankful that he had actually taken the time to teach her how to play, no matter how much she screwed up.

"Thanks for teaching me guitar AJ! I owe you one."

"Don't mention it. It's what I'm here for."

Joel began to speak up again. But this time, he was referring to a different matter.

"Hey AJ! So what are we going to do about that window of yours? I mean we can't just leave it like that. It's not safe."

"Oh right! The window! Uhh, I got a couple of pieces of wood down in the basement. We could nail them up for now until we find something better. I'll go get them."

"Sounds like a plan. Let me know when you're ready."

"Sure thing."

After AJ had headed to the basement, Joel turned to Ellie to speak.

"Ellie. You just stay -"

"Stay put! I know. You've said it like a thousand times!"

He chuckled. "Well, one more time couldn't hurt, considering how many times you've disobeyed me."

She laughed. "Hey! It's what I do."

He chuckled and continued staring at the entrance to the basement. After about 10 minutes, AJ still hadn't returned and they were starting to get worried.


	15. Burn

**Chapter 15**

Joel was about to head towards the entrance to the basement when he felt a slight pull on his arm. Ellie had stopped him in his tracks and he prayed that it was important because this was a serious matter.

"Hey wait!" yelled Ellie.

"What now?"

"Do you smell something?"

He didn't know what she was talking about. He didn't smell anything at first. He sniffed the air once more. And then he smelled it.

"Now that you mention it kiddo, I do. Smells like something's burning!"

"But where? The stove's off and...oh fuck! Dad! Check the basement!"

Joel ran as fast as he could to the basement, and when he opened the door, he stopped in pure shock. There were flames rising at an enormous speed. The fire was beginning to spread to the stairs which prevented them from going down.

"Ellie! The basement! It's on fire!"

She had a dead look on her face. She walked over to the basement door and her world started to crumble right in front of her. But she couldn't let that happen. She _wouldn't_ let that happen.

"So what do we do?"

"Ellie. I'm so sorry. It's too late."

"That's bullshit! And you know it. We have to put it out now!"

He looked into her eyes and saw tears starting to drop. He knew it was too dangerous to go into the fire but he couldn't bear to see the look on her face that she had at that moment. She was heartbroken and speechless. He knew he had to try something to ease her pain.

"Alright. Ellie! Grab the canteen from my backpack! Quick! It's all the water we have, but we have no other choice! I'm going to try to put it out!"

She didn't hesitate to oblige. She ran as fast as she could, grabbed the canteen and handed it to Joel. He took it and started to throw the water into the fire. He was pretty sure that it wouldn't be nearly enough to put out the fire, but he had to try, for her sake. When it got to the last bit of water, he made one final toss of the water into the fire, but to their misfortune, the fire was still there and more lively than ever.

He groaned angrily before speaking. "It's no use! The fire is spreading too fast!"

"Dad! We can't just leave him to die down there!"

Just then, they heard something that sounded like a small explosion and the floor began to shake very rapidly, making them lose their balance.

"Ellie! We gotta move! I'm sorry. But we have no choice!"

"But -"

"ELLIE!"

She sighed with a very depressed look on her face. "Alright."

They grabbed their bags. He then grabbed her arm and dragged her towards the back door of the house. He wasn't in the mood for any of her shenanigans at the moment, and he couldn't risk losing her by leaving her behind. Just as they had gotten outside, Joel heard the sound of the fire making crack-like noises and knew exactly what was coming.

"Ellie! Jump!"

They both jumped as far as they could just in time to hear the sound of a huge explosion right behind them. The perfect house that they once lived in was now no more. It was still there, but it was no longer perfect, and the entire house was on fire in a mere matter of seconds.

"Man! That was close!" said Ellie.

Joel looked over to the house and noticed something new. There was a hole in the ground with a tank of gasoline right beside it.

"Fucking bandits!" he muttered. He lost his train of thought when he saw the look of pain on Ellie's face.

"Ellie! Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. It's just..my leg..it still -"

"Oh shit! Your leg! I totally forgot!"

"It's okay. It's not that bad. But, I don't think I can walk on it right now."

"Not a problem. I'll carry you. We need to move."

"Yeah."

He picked Ellie up and cradled her in his arms. He hadn't done that in a very long time. In fact, the last time he cradled her in his arms was back in that hospital in Salt Lake City when he saved her from the Fireflies. He turned his head to look her in the face and spoke.

"I'm going to get you outta here alright. You're going to be okay."

He had no idea where they were going but he knew that where they were now wasn't safe. He kept pressing forward facing away from the house. The same couldn't be said for Ellie. While Joel was holding her, she stared hard at the house, not moving even an inch. She was about to turn around, when she noticed something. There was a figure. It almost looked human-like. And it was crawling towards them.

"Dad! Stop! Look!"

He just kept running.

"Ellie. We don't have time this. You can tell me about -"

"But dad! It's AJ! He's alive! He's right there!"

He stopped dead in his tracks and turned around to face the house. And sure enough, there he was. Ellie was right. Joel could see him stretching his arm out in pain. It's almost as if he was screaming for help. He had to go save him. It was the right thing to do and he knew that. He ran back to the house and grabbed AJ's arm, pulling him out of the fire. AJ was having trouble breathing and couldn't stop himself from coughing. Joel bent downwards to pick him up.

"Alright Ellie. I'm going to have to carry the both of you so I'm going to have to put you over my shoulder okay?"

"Got it."

He shifted Ellie over his left shoulder and then used his right arm, which was his more dominant arm, to lift AJ and place him over his right shoulder. The weight of carrying both of them was overwhelming for Joel, considering he wasn't getting younger. He could handle lifting Ellie, but AJ was quite heavy with that muscular build. He was pretty sure that AJ could lift himself if he needed to but he tried his best to make sure that that would never need to happen. Once Joel thought that they were in a temporary safe zone, he gently placed them down on the ground and took a breath. AJ's coughing still hadn't calmed down and Ellie was starting to get worried.

"Dad, do you have more water?"

He shook his head. "Sorry honey. But I used the last of it on the fire."

She sighed. "I guess I'll have to use my secret stash of water then."

"Secret stash?"

"Yeah."

Before he knew it, she pulled out a canteen of her own out of her backpack. She opened it up and gently poured the water into his mouth slowly. She was extra careful to make sure that he didn't choke on it. Once she closed the cap, Joel began to question her.

"Hey. Where'd you get that?"

"Back at AJ's. The first day we came, he said I could take whatever I wanted. So I figured it could be useful, y'know."

He snickered."I shouldn't be surprised. It's not like this is the first time."

She laughed. "Probably won't be the last either." He gave her a stern look before smiling and joining in with her laughter.

The laughter was broken off with the sound of AJ starting to stir and attempt to lift himself up. Ellie ran over and helped him up. She brushed the hair away from his forehead and immediately noticed the burn marks all over his body. She stared at him with a look of concern.

"Hey sweetie! How you feeling?"

"Better now I guess. I thought I was done for sure. You guys saved my life! I don't know how to thank you."

"No need to thank us kid. You gave us a place to stay this whole time. You gave my baby girl love. That's all we could ever ask for."

He smiled. "Appreciate it. So what do we do now?"

"Well we'll try to find a place to hole up for the night. You two are going to need a lot of rest."

"What about the bandits? I'm sick and tired of their shit! They've been ruining my life ever since I got in this damn town and I can't stand it anymore."

"Don't you worry kid. I feel the same way. Once you're feeling better, we'll go after them. They're not going to get away that easily." He looked over at Ellie. "Ellie, I don't think I need to ask, but did you want to come along on this trip with us?"

She giggled. "You know me so well."

"Alright then. The sooner we find a place to stay for a few nights, the sooner you two will get better, and the sooner we can kill those bastards."

"Then let's get going."


	16. The New House

**Chapter 16**

"You don't need me to lift you again, right kid? I mean I know you're hurting and all, but you're kind of heavy."

AJ smiled. He decided to have a little fun with him. "Could you? Be a dear."

Joel gave him a stern look thinking that AJ was serious.

"Relax. I think I can handle myself until we find a place. Can't say the same for Ellie though."

They both looked at Ellie. She was rolled over in pain. The bandage was starting to loosen and the red splatter of blood could clearly be seen. Joel grabbed another med kit from his bag.

"Alright Ellie. I'm going to wrap your leg up again."

She struggled to speak. "Okay."

Once he was done, he made sure that it was on her leg firmly before rising back up.

"Ellie, you think you can walk?"

"I don't think so. I'm really sorry. I feel like I'm disappointing you. That I'm letting you down. It just really hurts."

He went in and gave her a gentle hug to calm her down before speaking.

"Now Ellie. None of this is on you. We'll go when you're good and ready. Things happen."

"I could carry her if you want. I mean, if that's alright with you Joel."

Joel was really tired. He wasn't in the mood to argue, and frankly, he knew that AJ would be able to carry Ellie for a long distance.

"Sure. My back is getting a little sore anyway."

"Alright Ellie. Wrap your arm around me. I'm going to pick you up."

"Okay."

She obliged. She was surprised at how easily AJ was able to pick her up. At the moment, AJ seemed even stronger than Joel. She liked the feeling of herself in his arms and her head against chest. It felt right. The three of them began to walk forward, not knowing where they were going.

"Hey AJ."

"Yeah Ell?"

"You better not get me killed. I'm pretty vulnerable right now."

He chuckled. "Don't worry baby. I think I can handle it."

After about half an hour more of walking, they couldn't see a thing and were starting to get worried until Ellie pointed something out to them.

"Hey look! A house!"

She was right. They were so busy looking on their left that they hadn't even noticed the house on the right.

"It'll have to do for now. We really don't have any other option." said Joel. "Now I'm going to check the house to make sure it's safe. You two stay here. And watch your backs."

They obliged and Joel headed off into the house. It was dark and had an odd-smell to it. Joel couldn't decipher the smell at the time but knew that he had encountered that smell before. Whatever the case, he couldn't let that distract him. He began searching his thoroughly with his shotgun in hand. Every time he turned a corner, his heart started to pace rapidly. Once he had checked all the rooms in the house, he called over to AJ and Ellie.

"Alright kids. House is clear."

They stepped in, and just like the coffee shop back in Pittsburgh, Ellie disliked the smell immediately and wasn't afraid to express the way she felt.

"Aww. This place stinks! Do we really have to stay here?"

"Well if you don't want to, I guess we could go back outside and get killed by those bandits." Joel said saracastically.

She giggled. "Point taken. It's just...it smells like something died in here. This is even worse than that coffee shop back in Pittsburgh. Remember that?"

"Yeah I remember kiddo." He sighed loudly. "Man, I really miss coffee."

She hated to see that look on his face. The look he had when he really missed something. She wanted to do something special for him. But she didn't know how or when? And that got her thinking.

"So dad. Uhh I've been meaning to ask you. When's your birthday?"

He sighed. "I was hoping you wouldn't ask. Knew you would try to make a deal out of it but -"

"When is it dad?"

"It's tomorrow."

"Holy shit!"

"Now Ellie, you don't need to make a big deal out of it. It's not that important."

"Bullshit. It's really important. You're turning..."

And then she realized. She knew Joel all this time and the one thing she didn't know was how old he actually was.

"Wait. How old are you turning?"

"I don't think that's any of your business baby girl."

"What do you mean that's none of my business? If you really love me, you would tell me how old you are!"

He sighed. "Alright. I'm...I'm 48. I'll be turning 49 tomorrow."

Joel looked up knowing what to expect. He noticed Ellie had a big smile on her face and he could tell that she was trying to hold back her laugh.

"Go ahead. Laugh. I know. I'm old."

She burst out laughing. She couldn't help it. She couldn't hold it in any longer.

"I'm so sorry dad. I didn't mean to. It's just...I had no idea how old you really were."

"Yeah."

She noticed the sad look on his face and was immediately upset with herself. She limped over with her hurt leg and hugged him to try and comfort him. Then she realized something.

"Oh shit! If you're birthday is tomorrow, then I don't have much time."

"What do you mean?"

"A present. I need to get you something."

"Now Ellie. You don't need to get me nothing. Having you here with me is the best present I could ever ask for."

"That's sweet of you to say dad. But I need to get you something. It wouldn't be right to know that your birthday is tomorrow and not get you anything."

He sighed. "I'm not going to be able to change your mind about this, am I?"

She laughed. "Nope."

"Alright then. Just don't go out of your hair. Something simple is fine. I don't need anything fancy. Especially in a world turned to shit like this."

"Got it."

She looked at AJ and gave him a serious look.

"You better get him something too AJ! You're part of this family now."

Joel looked at Ellie before turning to AJ to speak.

"Don't listen to her AJ. You don't need to get me anything. It's fine."

"No. She's right. I want to get you something. You deserve something special."

Ellie kissed AJ on the cheek. She was happy that he listened to her. AJ knew better than to disobey Ellie. Ellie's threat did somewhat persuade his decision to get Joel a gift, but he knew deep down that it was the right thing to do.

"Alright well like I said before. Don't try to get too fancy on me. The last thing I need is for you too to get hurt looking for a gift."

"Yeah yeah." said Ellie. "Can we eat now? Because I don't know about you guys, but I'm fucking starving."

The two boys laughed at her knowing that she always had a craving for her food. She wasn't like any ordinary teenage girl and that's what they loved most about her.

"Sure thing" said Joel.

He cooked up some canned beans that he had found in one of the cabinets in the house. It wasn't as great as some of the last few meals they had, but at least it satisfied their hunger.

"Alright. Now you two should get some rest. Being that you're both hurt and all."

They looked at Joel and realized that he was right. Ellie's leg was feeling a little better but it was still throbbing and she knew that a little rest would do her some good. On the other hand, AJ was no longer feeling the burning sensation on his back, and wasn't really tired, but he didn't want to disappoint Joel knowing that it was his birthday and all.

"Okay. Goodnight dad."

"Goodnight baby girl."

She had lied down on the side of a bed that seemed somewhat comfortable. She began to think to herself about what she could get Joel for his birthday. After all the time she had spent with him, she knew almost everything about him and knew that if she really thought about it, she would figure something out. Then it hit her and she had a big smile on her face.

"That's it." she said

She drifted off to sleep now knowing what to look for the next morning. It wasn't until then that the nightmares made their long awaited appearance.

* * *

**A/N**

**Please take the time to review my work. Let me know how I'm doing so far, and also, if you have any suggestions or criticisms of my work, feel free to let me know. I will take all suggestions into consideration.**


	17. Recurring Nightmares

**Chapter 17**

The nightmare was no different than any of the others she had. She would always hear the same voice saying the same things.

_"Everything happens for a reason."_

_"You want out? Gonna have to come get these keys."_

_"You give up now and I promise to be quick. Promise."_

_"You can try beggin'."_

_"You think you know me? Huh? Well, let me tell you somethin'. You have no idea what I'm capable of."_

She tried to reach her arm out to grab the machete, but it wasn't there. She began to scream and kick her legs. Joel had awoken to the sound of Ellie screaming. He began to shake her rapidly.

"Ellie. Ellie! Wake up! It's just a nightmare."

She opened her eyes and saw Joel's face in front of her. She acted as if she had calmed down, but the truth was, she was more scared than ever. Just then, AJ burst through the door with a flashlight.

"What the fuck happened? You guys alright? I heard screaming."

"Yeah we're fine kid. She just had another one of them damn nightmares."

"Oh shit. Ellie, are you alright? You're safe. C'mere." said AJ holding out his arms.

She slowly slid off the bed and limped over to where he was. She hugged him tightly as if she was never willing to let him go.

"AJ! H-he tried to..."

"Shh shh shh. It's okay. I'm here. He can't hurt you anymore. I won't let that happen."

Her head was dug deep into his chest. He could feel her tears dripping down the front of his shirt. He could tell that she wasn't ready to stop hugging any time soon.

"Ellie. I know you're not in the mood for talking. But I need you to listen to me okay? I guarantee that it will help you with your nightmares. I know this because it helped me with my nightmares of what happened to my sister."

She totally forgot about what happened to his sister. Maybe he was right. Maybe he could help her. He was the only who knew what it was like for that to happen, even if it didn't actually happen directly to him. She decided to listen and nodded, still resting her head against his chest.

"Nightmares are not real Ellie. No matter what happens in them, you can never actually get hurt. But the most important thing to remember is that you can control the fate of your dreams, whether they're happy or scary. You decide what happens. Don't let anyone push you around. Especially that guy that tried to hurt you."

After a while of processing what AJ had just said, she finally lifted her head up and looked into AJ's bright blue eyes.

"I-I'll try. It's just...it seems so real."

"I know Ell. I know. Just trust me on this one."

She wiped the tears off her face and tried to force a smile on her face to show her appreciation. "Thanks. I mean it. I'm glad you decided not to be a dick tonight. I'm really glad you decided to help me through this."

She turned her attention to Joel.

"Hey dad? Do you mind if I sleep the rest of the night with AJ? It's just -"

"Say no more. Go on. Get some sleep."

She smiled. "Thanks dad. I love you."

"I love you too baby girl."

* * *

While Ellie was sleeping, AJ was sleeping with one eye open. He was really concerned about Ellie and wanted to make sure that she was alright. He noticed that she was starting to squirm around and realized that she was starting to have one of those nightmares again. He immediately moved closer to her and cuddled with her which stopped her from squirming instantly. However, he didn't realize that he had woke her up by accident. She turned to face him and spoke.

"Thanks AJ. I'm glad you're here. You make me feel safe."

He kissed her on the lips and it never felt any more appropriate. "No problem baby. But, try to get some sleep alright. We've got a big day tomorrow for the old man."

She giggled. "You're right about that. Goodnight sweetie."

"Night princess."

* * *

The next morning, when Joel woke up, he opened his eyes and saw Ellie and AJ sitting next to him, waiting for him to wake up. They shouted simultaneously as they noticed his eyes begin to open.

"Happy Birthday!"

He sat up and noticed that they were holding a tray filled with all kinds of food, ranging from beans to rabbit to deer.

"What's all this?"

"It's called bed in breakfast. I learned about it back in the zone. Every time someone had a birthday, the soldiers would give them extra food to show their appreciation."

"Well it's very nice. Thank you both very much."

Ellie smiled. She hadn't seen Joel's eyes glow so much in such a long time. He seemed so happy that he finally found someone that cared for him. And she was glad that she was that person.

"That's not all dad."

"There's more?"

He noted the canteen that she handed to him. _Water_ he thought. That was a strange gift. On top of that, it seemed awfully warm. But he didn't want to complain. It was the thought that counted and he knew that.

"Wow. Water...that's nice." he said sarcastically.

She was confused. She had no idea was talking about. She began to giggle.

"It's not water silly. Look inside."

He didn't know what she meant so he simply obliged. And there it was staring him straight in the face. _Coffee._ He hadn't seen a drip of coffee in years, let alone a whole canteen full. He was full of glee and Ellie had a proud look on her face as if her work was done. She knew that that was the perfect gift. He had always commented about missing coffee and she wanted to grant him one last taste of it.

"Ellie. I can't believe...where'd you...how'd you get this?"

"I found a couple of those beans that people use to make coffee down in the basement. And you always mentioned that you missed it. So I figured y'know."

He took a sip of it. He had to admit. It wasn't the best that he's tasted. But it was more than he expected, and it proved how thoughtful Ellie could really be.

"Well it's not the best I've had, but thank you. I really appreciate the effort."

She ran up and give him a big hug. "Anything for you daddy. I love you."

"I love you too kiddo."

Ellie looked over to AJ and then back to Joel. She knew what AJ's present to Joel was and she approved 100 percent. She just hoped that Joel would love it as much as she thought he would.

"Alright my turn." said AJ.

"You don't have to -"

"Oh save it. I didn't go out and find you this present this morning for nothing. Took me a while to find it, but I hope you like it. Take a look out the window."

He obliged and looked at the window. At first, he couldn't see anything different. He just saw trees, bushes, houses in the distance, y'know, all the normal stuff. But then, when he looked downwards, he saw it. _A motorcycle_. A Harley to be exact.

"You're shitting me. You got me a Harley?"

"Yeah. You like it?"

"Are you kidding? I love it!"

He couldn't help but stare at AJ and then back at the Harley. All the memories of riding on a Harley with Tommy on his birthday came flashing back. AJ tossed the keys to the Harley to Joel and Joel couldn't help himself. He had to show AJ how much he really appreciated the gift. He didn't care how awkward it would be.

"Screw it. Kid c'mere."

He gave AJ a big hug. He even lifted him up off the ground in the process. Joel was just so excited that he would get a second chance to ride a Harley.

"Thanks kid! Man, you two kids just gave me the best gifts I could ask for. I truly love you two."

It really felt like the three of them were starting to bond as a whole, like they were a real family. And they couldn't have felt any happier at that moment. Joel decided to break the silence afterwards with a question.

"So, should we pay our "friends", the bandits, a little visit now?"

Ellie grabbed Joel's shoulder and gently shook her head.

"I don't think so."

"It's alright Joel. Today is your day. There's always tomorrow."

He obliged. He knew that there was no way of talking them out of it. He was happy that he was finally able to celebrate his birthday after all those brutal years of surviving. It felt nice to finally sit back and relax on his special day. He just prayed that AJ and Ellie wouldn't try anything else too crazy for him for the rest of the day, but he didn't get his hopes up on that.


	18. Decisions

**Chapter 18**

The next morning when Ellie had awoken, she noticed that Joel was still lying there sleeping. She knew he was exhausted from all the things they did the day before for his birthday, so she decided to let him sleep in for once. She started feeling lonely, so she walked over to AJ's room to see if he was awake. She entered the room to see AJ coming out of the shower soaking wet. She couldn't help but stare at him. His dark black hair dripping with water, his bright blue eyes staring right at her with a big smile on his face. There was also a long, thin scar on the right side of his face to which she didn't know the origin of. She was attracted to him, not just because he looked cute, but because of his body as well. He was a medium build, but he looked physically stronger than Joel. She stopped daydreaming when she noticed AJ's mouthing something to her.

"Wow. You get really nervous when you see a guy come out of the shower, don't you?"

"Oh sorry. It's just..."

"Yeah I know. I'm handsome. I get it."

She giggled. "Well in my defense, there's not much competition for you these days. Y'know, with most of the population dead and all."

"So are you saying I'm not good looking?"

"No of course not sweetie...it's just...wait...you're totally fucking with me aren't you?"

He laughed. "You just make it too easy."

"Man, I really set myself up for that one. I'm really teaching you too much. And for the record, you are the most handsome guy I've ever met."

He blushed and chuckled. "That's all I was looking for." She rolled her eyes at him.

"So what are you doing in here anyway Ell?"

"Oh, you know, just hanging out."

"You're lonely, aren't you?"

She sighed. "Yeah I guess."

"Well you're welcome to stay in here and watch me put some clothes on, if you're interested that is." he said sarcastically.

She sat there with a disturbed look on her face. She felt comfortable around AJ, but this was different. She wasn't quite ready to observe every bit of AJ's manhood, especially knowing the fact that Joel was in the room across the hall and could walk in on them at any given moment.

"Uhh I think I'm good. I'll be downstairs if you need me."

He chuckled. "Suit yourself."

Before Ellie could turn around and head out the door, he noticed the disturbed look on her face and knew that he had to say something to avoid the awkwardness between them. He grabbed her arm.

"You know I was just kidding right?"

She giggled. "Yeah I know. Come downstairs when you're done okay?"

"Rodger dodger."

"Oh. So now you're mocking me?"

"You got that right."

She just laughed it off. She wasn't in the mood for arguing right now. She muttered something on her way out of the room. "Don't take too long."

"I won't."

* * *

Ellie sat on the couch waiting for AJ. She was bored. This was obvious because all she was doing was fiddling with her switchblade. She had a habit of doing that. It wasn't normal for a 15-year old girl to do that, but it was for her, because she was no ordinary 15-year old girl. Just then, she heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. To her surprise, Joel had woken up and was walking alongside AJ down the steps.

"Morning dad!"

"Morning Ellie. How you doing today honey?"

"I'm great. How about you? You seem a little tired."

"And why do you think that is?" he said in a sarcastic tone.

She just laughed. She knew that he was talking about AJ and herself. Just then, she heard her stomach growl loudly and she felt a little embarassed.

"Well someone's getting hungry. Why don't I go whip us up something to eat before we head off on this new journey of ours?" said Joel.

"Good idea."

They began to eat the stew that Joel had made before AJ started to bring up a conversation.

"So Ellie, I've been meaning to ask you, how'd you get that scar on your eyebrow?"

"Oh this. Well, back in the zone, I use to get myself into a lot of trouble. One time when I hopped over a fence, I landed face first and scraped my eyebrow on a piece of glass. I was lucky that it didn't touch my eye. Looks pretty badass though, doesn't it?"

"Yeah. It actually does."

"Thanks. So what about you? How'd you get your scar?" She motioned to the long scar on the side of his face.

"Well, it's not nearly as exciting as yours. Before you guys came along, I use to live by myself as you already know. Once when I was preparing breakfast, I accidentally burned my hand and I had a knife in the other hand. So I kind of acted on instinct not knowing what I was doing, and I ended up scraping my face. Hurt like a bitch."

"Wow. You were right. That wasn't what I expected at all considering all the crazy things you've done in your life. But whatever. Still looks really cool."

He smiled. They finished eating in silence for the rest of their meal. Once they were done washing up, Joel motioned them out the door towards the Harley.

"Alright. Let's get a move on. Reckon I need to take this thing for a spin. Haven't been on one for a while, so bear with me."

They both laughed and nodded. They got on behind Joel and they were off. Joel had the biggest of smiles on his face.

"Man. I feel like I'm 18 again."

"Well, you don't look it." said Ellie sarcastically.

"Easy."

"Sorry. Just slipped out."

"Course it did kiddo." He rolled his eyes but continued to keep driving forward.

After a couple of hours of riding on the Harley, they had finally reached the bandits' camp. But it wasn't what they had expected. They looked around the camp only to find out that the bandits had gone elsewhere. AJ had a really depressed look on his face. He was really looking forward to the confrontation.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me?" said AJ.

Joel patted him on the shoulder and tried to assure him that they would get their chance soon enough. But AJ was not in the mood.

"It's alright. We'll get 'em next time. We should head back."

Joel turned around and started to head back towards the motorcycle only to hear the sound of AJ's voice.

"No. It's now or never."

"Kid. I hate to break it to you. But I don't know how you plan on finding them. It's too dangerous."

"Did that stop you guys from looking for the fireflies back then? Huh? Did it? Didn't think so."

Joel was livid. He didn't want this kid to risk his life just to get back at some assholes. He went a lot to Ellie, and frankly, he was starting to become an important part of Joel's life as well.

"Kid it's not worth it! We're going back! Come on!"

"No! Look, you may be Ellie's dad, but that doesn't give you the right to tell _me_ what to do. I'm going to look for them whether you like it or not. So either you're with me or you're against me."

He held out his hand expecting Joel to shake it. Joel did not approve of AJ's decision one bit. But he had a point. AJ was acting just like he did back when they were looking for the fireflies. But he still didn't approve. He proved this by not shaking AJ's hand.

"Well I guess that answers that. Look, I care about you two, I really do, but if you two are going to hold me back...then...forget it. I need to find these bastards."

AJ began walking away from them. Joel couldn't believe that AJ had left them and went off by himself. He knew he could handle himself, but the question was, for how long. Just then he felt someone grab his arm. It was Ellie.

"Dad! How could you? We can't just let him go by myself! We have to go with him!"

"No. It's too dangerous."

She looked heartbroken. AJ was the first good thing that happened to her in a long, long time and Joel was starting to feel bad about taking that away.

"Oh. And searching for the fireflies wasn't!?"

"That was different."

She groaned angrily. "Come on dad! We can handle it!"

"How many close calls have we had?"

"Well we seem to be doing alright so far!"

Joel recognized the conversation almost immediately. It was almost the same exact conversation as the one they had back in the ranch at Tommy's. He couldn't let that happen again. He didn't want to see that heartbroken look on Ellie's face again. He sighed and knew it was the right thing to do.

"Alright. If we do this, then you have to promise me that you will listen to everything I say."

She nodded. "Of course."

"Alright then. Let's go find that boyfriend of yours."

* * *

**A/N**

**Hey guys! I hope you guys like this chapter a lot. I just wanted to let you guys know that I may be a little busy for the next couple of days so I may not be posting as often as I usually do, but I'll try my very best to get them up as soon as possible. Thanks for understanding. As always, follow and review to let me know how I'm doing. Thanks a bunch.**


	19. Reunited

**Chapter 19**

Joel had started to regret everything he had said to AJ. He knew that AJ had set his heart out on finding these bandits, and he sent him out there alone, with no one to watch his back. Ellie followed close behind Joel, and every now and then, he would check behind him to make sure that she was still there. After walking for what seemed like ages, they had finally found AJ sitting down on the ground, curled up into a little ball. It almost looked as if he had given up. They approached him.

"AJ?"

He wiped the tears away from his eyes and lifted his head up. He knew he recognized the voice the moment he heard it and he couldn't have been any happier.

"AJ. Why are you crying?" she asked.

"Because for a while, until you guys just showed up, I was alone. Again. I was so use to having you guys around, and when you guys didn't come with me..."

"AJ it's okay. I talked to my dad. We are coming with you. We're a team. We stick together. "

He looked over at Joel with a surprise looked on his face.

"Is that true Joel? Are you really okay with it?"

Joel simply nodded. He couldn't stand to see the hurt look on AJ's face. He was as tough as they come, yet he was broken down into tears right now and it made him feel extremely guilty.

"Well look. I'm really sorry about -"

"Now there's no need to apologize. If anyone needs to apologize, it should be me. I'm sorry I left you to go alone. I should have realized how important this was to you."

"Thanks. And I'm sorry about yelling at you earlier. I usually don't act like that."

"That's alright. So we good?"

Joel stretched out his right hand for two purposes: to pick AJ up from off the ground and to shake his hand and make up. Fortunately for him, AJ smiled and took his hand and shook it with no hesitation.

"We're good."

Ellie was really happy that they had made up. The last thing she needed was for two of the most important guys in her life to be constantly bickering at each other.

"Ellie. Uhh. I've been meaning to talk to you about something. And I'm not sure if you're really up to talk about it."

"Uhh. I'll try. Shoot."

"It's about that David guy."

She had a fearful look in her eye. She didn't really like to talk about David after the nightmare she had just recently, but she figured that AJ knew that, and the only reason he would ask her to talk about it was if it was important.

"Ok...What do you want to know?"

"Did he by any chance have a close friend named James? He was quite younger than David and always wore a toque on his head during the winter."

"Uhh yeah he did. How did you -?"

"Fuck. I think I know where they are. And you're not going to like it."

She was scared to death. She was hoping that he wouldn't say what she thought he was going to say. She wasn't sure if she was ready to go back there.

"I never told you two this, but Roger and David were brothers. Their plan was to have their own groups in two different areas: one here and one in the Lakeside Resort. Since their men are not here, and both Roger and David are dead, they have nowhere else to go. They had to have gone back to the Lakeside Resort."

Ellie had a terrified look on her face. Her worst nightmare was coming true. She knew deep down that she would have to go back there someday but she didn't know that that day would be today.

"So you're saying that we have to go back there?"

"I'm so sorry Ellie. But it's the only lead we've got. I've got no other option but to follow it."

He looked over at Joel and started to speak with a worried tone in his voice.

"You think she'll be okay with this Joel? I mean after everything that happened to her, I would hate to bring back her worst memories."

"I don't know kid. It's going to be tough for her, that's all I know. She's a strong kid. But only she knows when she's good and ready."

Ellie felt immense pressure hitting her. She wasn't sure what to do. She was scared to go back to the Lakeside Resort. No, actually, she was horrified. She knew that Joel didn't kill all of David's men when they were there. What if they found her and remembered who she was? What then? That would be the worst thing that could happen. On the other hand, she knew that this was important to AJ, and frankly she had been hurt by these sick bastards too, physically and emotionally. She realized that it was time to put aside her fears and face her problems head on.

She sighed. "Alright then. I guess we're going back to Lakeside."

"Baby girl, are you sure? We don't have to do this."

"Yes we do dad. These motherfuckers have hurt all three of us in one way or another. They need to pay for what they did. I don't care if it brings back all my memories of that place. I just want to get rid of them once and for all!"

He looked deeply into her eyes. He was happy with what he saw. For the first time in a long time, he saw confidence and determination in her eyes. That was something that he hadn't seen from her since the time they encountered the giraffes when looking for the Fireflies.

"Alright then. Let's head on back to the motorcycle. We've got a long trip ahead of us to the Lakeside Resort so we're going to need to get moving."

The two teenagers simply nodded and obliged to his demands. After a while of riding along a bumpy pathway, Ellie decided to break the silence by starting up a conversation.

"You do realize that if anything happens to me while we're there, it's your fault, right AJ?"

Joel snickered.

"Hey don't laugh dad. You're not hurt this time either. So you're just as responsible for me as AJ is. I can't go through that experience again."

"Don't worry baby girl. Nothing will happen to you. I promise. We're going to make sure that you're always with us safe and sound while we're there."

"You better keep that promise."

He chuckled. "So AJ, what's the plan once we get there?"

"The plan?"

"Yeah. You did plan on how you're actually going to attack them right?"

"I thought you were suppose to think about that. I thought about coming here in the first place. I can't think of everything."

"Jesus Christ. Alright no matter. We'll decide how we're going to do this once we get there."

Once they arrived, the three of them got off the motorcycle and headed towards the nearby houses. There were many to choose from, but Ellie was not interested in looking around. She already knew which house she wanted to stay in, and she was hoping that Joel would agree with her.

"Hey dad?"

"Yeah kiddo."

"Do you think that we can stay in the house that we stayed in the last time we were here?"

She pointed to a house in the distance on the far left of where Joel was currently standing.

"Is there something special that you like about that house?"

"Uhh no. Not really. It's just...when I was here, I felt safe when I was inside that house with you. It was cozy and it made me feel like nobody could hurt us anymore."

He looked at her and saw her trying to use her bright green eyes to persuade him with a puppy dog face. He knew what she was doing, but he was in no mood to argue with her. She had been through far too much in this place. She already felt uncomfortable about coming back to this place and the last thing he wanted to do was make her feel even more uncomfortable.

"Alright. Sure thing. We can stay in that house if you really want to. Not a problem."

"Thanks dad."

She began to run towards the house and motioned Joel and AJ to follow. Joel didn't even notice that AJ was standing next to him until he began to speak.

"She's quite the handful, isn't she?"

"Yeah. But she's my daughter, and I love her."

"Me too. I think we should get going. She's starting to look a little frustrated."

They looked up and saw Ellie with her arms crossed across her chest and her foot tapping repeatedly on the ground.

"Can you guys be any slower? Come on!"

Joel chuckled. "Slow down kiddo."

When they finally caught up to Ellie at the house, they thought that they deserved a hard earned rest. It was a long trip to get to Lakeside and they finally came to the conclusion that they could afford to wait just one more night before raising havoc.


	20. Retracing her Steps

**Chapter 20**

It was a bright and sunny day the next morning. Ellie had awoken to the sound of a gust of window blowing a tree branch enough to come into contact with the window. She was terrified but she knew that she had to stay strong, for their sake. She looked up and realized that both Joel and AJ were still fast asleep. She tried to go back to sleep, but she couldn't. She didn't want to stay awake by herself, so she decided that she would wake one of them up. After a moment of thinking, she decided to wake up AJ. She had put Joel through enough worry over the past year and she would hate to add more to that. She crawled over to AJ and began to nudge him.

"Hey AJ. Wake up."

He groaned. "5 more minutes."

She began to nudge him harder. She was paranoid that something might happen if she didn't wake him up at that very moment.

"Come on!"

He opened his eyes and saw the fear in Ellie's eyes. He wasn't sure what to say. He would hate to put Ellie through any more discomfort. He sat up.

"Wha-? Something wrong Ell?"

"No. Nothing's wrong."

"Then why'd you wake me up?"

"I-I just needed someone to talk to, that's all."

AJ knew what she meant. He knew that she was scared to stay awake by herself in this place. He was tempted to crack a joke about the fact that she was actually scared about something, but he knew that it would hurt her deeply and he wanted to try and avoid that as best as he could.

"Oh alright."

After a moment of silence, it was getting a little awkward between them. AJ wasn't sure what to say to Ellie knowing that she felt very uncomfortable in this place. And Ellie, well she just was really quiet. That is until she spoke up.

"Look AJ. I'm really sorry for -"

"Stop. There's no need to apologize. You needed me awake. I get it."

She looked into his eyes and smiled. "Thanks. I knew you'd understand."

"So what should we do now?" Ellie asked.

"We can make breakfast I suppose. We should be done by the time Joel wakes up. We need to get going soon anyway."

"Alright."

AJ and Ellie had cooked up a batch of can soup for breakfast. It wasn't the best meal but it would have to do for now they thought. Joel had woken up to the smell of the soup and started to eat it as well. Once they began to eat, Joel questioned AJ about his plan of action.

"So AJ, how are we gonna find them?"

"Not sure. They could be anywhere in this area."

Ellie had a faint idea of where they could be. She didn't really want to talk about it but knew that it might help them, so she decided to bud into the conversation.

"What if we go to the place where they keep their victims?"

AJ and Joel both dropped their spoons. They couldn't believe what just came out of Ellie's mouth. It was a good idea but they were surprised that Ellie had suggested it.

"Are you sure baby girl? I don't know if that's such a good idea."

She sighed and started to speak in a low voice. "Yeah. Yeah I guess so. I'm pretty sure that they would be there. We need to check."

He nodded. AJ had a thought running through his mind. He hated to ask Ellie. He knew it would bring back her nightmares, but he didn't really have a choice if he wanted to find them.

"So..Ell...do you remember what the place looked like?"

She had a pale look on her face. He thought that she wasn't able to talk about it, but he was surprised when she looked up at him and started to speak.

"No. My memory is really hazy. All I remember is that I had to get out of there as quick as I could. I didn't have time to see what it looked like. I'm really sorry."

Joel grabbed her shoulder gently and attempted to reassure her that she didn't have to worry about it. They would find them one way or another.

"Ellie. It's alright. It's not your fault. I'm just glad that you're okay. We'll find them."

"I know. It's just...I feel like I'm the only one who knows where they are. But I can't help because I don't remember. I feel like I'm letting you down with this."

"Oh baby girl. You're not letting me down. You never have and you never will. All I care about is that you're safe. Now we'll search every inch of this place if we have to until we find those fuckers. And we'll kill them all. I promise you that."

She appreciated the comfort that Joel was giving her. He was really starting to change. He use to be brutal and aggressive, but after spending so much time with her, she realized that he had become a much more caring person. Did I do that to him, she thought. It was then that she realized how much Joel really cared about her.

"Okay."

She stopped and started to think. She really wanted to help them out with this but she wasn't sure how. And then it hit her.

"Hey wait! What if we go back to Todd's?"

"Where?" asked Joel.

"The restaurant. The one where I killed that motherfucker."

He immediately noticed her look down at her shoes and knew that she was uncomfortable talking about. He wasn't sure why she wanted to go back there, so he had to ask.

"Why the hell would we go back there? It'd give you nothing but nightmares."

"I guess. But here me out. I think if I went there, I might remember the path that I took to get there. It's worth a shot."

"I don't know Ellie."

"Come on dad. What other choice do we have?"

He thought about it and realized that she was right. It was the best option they had. They could always just walk around the entire area not knowing where they were going, but they would probably end up getting killed that way.

"Alright. But I just want to make sure that you know what you're doing. And another thing. If we go there, you have to promise me that you won't go back inside that restaurant. We clear?"

"Got it."

"Alright then. Let's get a move on."

Once they had finished their meal, they had packed up what they needed and put into their bags. This was going to be quite the journey and they knew that they needed everything that they could get their hands on. This wasn't going to be easy, but it had to be done. They headed upstairs and out the garage, closing it gently so that no one could hear. They decided to travel by foot this time rather than motorcycle just to be on the safe side. Ellie began to take them down the path that she had rode Callus on before those cannibals shot him. She hated the memory of Callus being shot. She felt so guilty and she loved that horse so very much. She muttered to herself.

"Oh Callus. I miss you so much."

She recollected herself before continuing to press forward. It began to start to snow. Great, just what they needed at a time like this. It was already cold enough in Lakeside. The last thing they needed was a winter storm like the last time they were here. They wanted to stop and take shelter until it stopped snowing but they knew that they would probably lose a lot of time that way, and they couldn't risk that happening. After a while of walking, they had finally reached the general area of the destination. Ellie stopped and stared for a couple of minutes. She wasn't moving an inch. She just kept staring at the sing with a look of fear in her eye. Joel noticed this and walked back over to her.

"Ellie. You okay? We don't have to do this."

She shook herself out of it and looked up to see Joel looking at her with a look of concern.

"Huh? Did you say something?"

"I asked if you were alright."

She looked down and started kicking the snow with her feet.

"Oh. Yeah I'm fine. Let's just get this over with."

She started to slowly walk towards the restaurant. Her steps got smaller and smaller as she got closer and closer to the restaurant. Joel followed close behind her, but he saw a glint of light that almost temporarily blinded him, and he turned towards it on instinct. It was coming from the roof of one of the other buildings. He tried to focus his eyes, and then he realized what it was. _A sniper_.

* * *

**A/N**

**Hey guys! I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to be busy tomorrow morning so I won't be able to post a new chapter in the morning like I usually do. I'll try my best to post the next chapter as soon as possible (most likely in the afternoon). As always, please follow and review.**


	21. Who are we?

**Chapter 21**

Joel was so astonished by the sniper he had just seen that for a split second, he had totally forgotten where he was and who was with him. Once he spotted AJ and Ellie in front of him, he immediately reacted, not knowing if they had spotted the sniper or not.

"Kids. We need to move! Get inside the restaurant!"

"But-"

"ELLIE! Now!"

"Okay. Jeez."

They started to jog not knowing how serious the threat Joel was talking about was. Joel knew they had no time to lose and dragged them right to the entrance. He had pulled AJ, Ellie, and himself into the restaurant just in time. He heard the impact of a gunshot from a rifle come into contact with the door right when they made it inside. He started breathing heavily.

"Dad, are you alright? What's happening?"

He took a moment to catch his breath before responding.

"I'm fine. I saw a sniper on the rooftops. Not sure if there are anymore out there. Had to get us in-...Ellie, where are you going? I'm talking to you."

"Oh. I'm not going anywhere. I just need to...check on something."

When they had got into the restaurant, she had immediately noticed how worn down it looked. It made sense to her though considering the fact that the last time she was in this restaurant, it was on fire. There was one thing on her mind after they had gotten inside. She walked over to the area where she had killed David. She was still able to see the stains of his blood on the floor. She could see flashes of that day in her mind. When she saw the blood, she started to get sick and could almost feel the vomit rising up her esophagus. Fortunately, she was able to control herself for the time being.

Joel was not willing to part ways with Ellie while they were in the restaurant. When she said that she needed to check something, he had a faint idea of what she was talking about, but followed her closely to make sure. When he realized that his suspicion was correct, he walked over to her and let out a long sigh.

"Now Ellie. You don't need to be looking at that."

She seemed lost in thought, and in fact, that was actually the case. She kept remembering the force at which she wielded the machete that day. She remembered slicing David's head repeatedly with no remorse. The only reason she had stopped was because Joel had come in and grabbed her. She kept thinking about the matter and questioning herself about who the real monster was: David or herself. She just wasn't sure anymore, and she needed to find out.

"Ellie? Ellie! Something on your mind kiddo?"

She shook her head and noticed Joel standing in front of her. She was a little startled but settled down realizing that at least she was safe this time.

"Uhh..actually..yeah."

"Alright. Go on then."

She sighed. "Dad...do you think that I'm a monster?"

He was startled by the question. He didn't expect her to ask him something like that. He knew it was a bad idea to come into the restaurant but they really didn't have much of a choice. And now she felt guilty after seeing the blood, which was the last thing he wanted at a time like this.

"What? Ellie. Of course not. Why would you even think that?"

She pointed at the dried blood on the ground. "What I did to him. It wasn't right. I went crazy. I never killed anyone like that before. And I'm just not really sure if he was the real monster, or if I was."

"Now listen here baby girl. This world turned to shit a long time ago. And so did the people in it. People do whatever they have to to survive. All you did was protect yourself. You had no choice. You knew exactly what he was going to do to you. Just trust me when I say, you're not a monster. You're just a person trying to survive in today's screwed up world."

"Yeah I guess."

She didn't seem too satisfied with his answer. He knew he had to do something. He had to make sure that she didn't think of herself as a monster. He had to make her feel proud of herself. He didn't like the idea, but he knew it was time to express his feelings to her. He cupped her face in his hands and made sure she was looking right at him before he started to speak again.

"Listen here. Now I'm not the type to express my feelings. You probably know that by now." She snickered. "But I think that this is important. I'm proud of you Ellie. I'm proud of everything you have done since I met you back in Boston. I've taught you so much and I've seen you grown so much over the span of our time together. So don't bring yourself down over this. You had no choice. You did what you had to do to survive, and that does not make you a monster. That makes you a strong human being that has finally learned to adapt to this cruel world. Understand?"

She started to tear up. For a moment, he thought that he had said something wrong, that is until she pecked him on the cheek.

"Got it. Thanks dad. That makes me feel a lot better."

"Glad to hear it."

They smiled at each other, sharing a special father-daughter moment before being interrupted by the sound of AJ's voice.

"Uhh guys...I hate to ruin your little moment...but what the fuck is that!?"

He was pointing at the window with a look of fear in his eye. Joel and Ellie ran over to him. They were concerned about why he was worrying so much. They were pretty sure they were safe inside the restaurant. That is until they saw a couple of the bandits holding RPG's pointed directly at the restaurant.

"Oh fuck." said Ellie.

They heard the sound of the bandits speaking outside. They were planning to shoot the building down with the RPG's. Only one door was clear to them and they figured that Joel, Ellie, and AJ were trapped inside the restaurant. It seemed like there was a new leader that they had chosen, but they couldn't make out who exactly it was.

"Alright men. When I give you the signal, I want you to bring that restaurant down to the ground. Make sure those fuckers are dead. They already killed David, Roger and James. We need to end this once and for all." He turned around and thought about something before turning back around to face them again. "Actually on second thought. Keep them alive. I want to have a little fun. These three fools deserve to suffer for everything they've done."

"Yes sir."

Joel noticed the soldiers look back up to the restaurant. They lifted the RPG's back up to their shoulders and took aim at the restaurant. He knew what was about to come their way and knew that they had to get out of that place fast.

"Alright kids. I think it's time we quit this place."

"And how do you suggest we do that? I don't see an alternate exit. We're fucking trapped Joel." said AJ.

Ellie started to remember the day of her escape and how she had gotten to the restaurant. She tried to go backwards in her memory. She then realized that she hadn't come through the front door the first time she was here. She had come through the window in the kitchen.

"No we're not! I know the way out. Come on."

She ran off into the kitchen and they tagged along knowing that Ellie was their best chance of getting out of that place alive. And there it was. The window that she had come through that day was still intact. She smiled and then looked back at them.

"Okay dad. Gimme a boost."

"Alright."

He boosted Ellie up and through the window. Then, he helped AJ up the same way. He then realized something. How exactly was he going to get up there? There was no one else there to boost him up. They really didn't think this through, not that they had a whole lot of time in the first place. He had to think quickly. He ran to a room in the back and found a bunch of wooden crates.

"Perfect."

He placed two crates on top of each other directly in front of the window. He then placed another crate in front of those two crates. He had just made steps for himself. He was proud of himself but knew that this wasn't really the time to celebrate. He climbed the crates and pulled himself up and through the window where Ellie and AJ were there to drop him gently onto the dumpster that was below the window on the outside of the restaurant. As Joel's feet hit the dumpster, they heard the sound of the restaurant being shot at with RPGs. They noticed the restaurant starting to shake and crumble and they knew that they had to get out of their quick in order to avoid being seen.

"Shit. We need to get outta here. This place ain't safe. Ellie, you remember the way?" asked AJ.

"Yeah. Through here. I think it's safe."

They started to run, but after a matter of mere seconds, they were halted by the sight of two bandits pointing their revolvers right at them. One of them began to speak.

"Looks like the two of you are out of luck."

Ellie looked at Joel and whispered.

"Two?"

They looked back simultaneously only to see a big blanket of white behind them.

* * *

**A/N**

**Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter. Sorry again for not being able to post the chapter this morning, but I hope you like it. As always, make sure to follow and review to hear more of the story.**


	22. Problems

**Chapter 22**

They began to worry. Where had he gone? He was just with them a minute ago. With the two men pointing their revolvers right at them, they didn't even have the option to pull out their pistols. Joel decided to try and talk his way out of the situation. He put his hands up and motioned Ellie to do the same.

"Look. We're not here to cause any trouble."

"Then why exactly are you here?"

"Same reason as you. Rummaging for supplies. That's all."

"Don't play dumb with me asshole. I know who you two are. Especially that little girl of yours. How you doin' honey?"

Ellie wasn't sure how to respond. She felt the urge to just run up and stab the guy but she knew better. It would just cause them more trouble. She noticed a figure running atop the buildings but figured that it wasn't really that important at the moment. She tried to focus her eyes back on the bandits, but then she saw it again. She began to look in the direction of the figure and the bandits followed her gaze.

"Hello? What the fuck are you -"

The bandits had been murdered mid-speech. The figure that Ellie had spotted had jumped down and shivved them both simultaneously. All that they could see and hear now was blood and gurgling. Now that the figure was in front of them, they realized who it was.

"AJ, what the fuck were you thinking?" she asked.

"I was thinking that I needed to save our asses from those two motherfuckers. So how did I do?"

She rolled her eyes. "How the hell did you even get up there?"

He laughed. "I got my ways."

Joel budded into the conversation. Knowing that they had just encountered a few bandits, he figured that there was more on the way.

"Kids. We don't have time for this. We need to move."

"You're right. This way."

They continued to follow Ellie through the area. She was starting to take them through buildings such as arcades and stores that sold video game consoles which made Joel a little suspicious. For a moment, he was starting to think that she was just taking them to the places she liked, but he soon realized that she wouldn't do such a thing after what had happened to her here in the past. They had finally made it to the building where the cannibals held their victims. They wanted to enter right away but noticed that it was heavily guarded. They had to be smart about this.

They decided to flank them. There were about 10 bandits guarding the perimeter. Joel took the left with his flamethrower in hand. AJ took the right with his semi-auto rifle. Ellie stayed back and finished off any bandits that tried to sneak up on either of them. AJ started the confrontation by firing two shots, killing two of the bandits in the process. The remainder of the bandits ran towards AJ, which gave Joel the opening he wanted. He ran right behind them and blasted the remaining bandits with the flamethrower before they could have any chance to react. They looked around the area before motioning over to Ellie to come join them.

"Alright. I think we're clear."

After she witnessed Joel and AJ kill the bandits, she sat down on a nearby ledge and stared hard at the building as if there was nothing else to look at. Her memories of being kidnapped were starting to come back. She remembered being choked hard by David. She remembered him giving her the deer, promising that there was no helpings of human mixed in with it, which to this day, she still wasn't entirely sure about. She remembered how he called her special and started caressing her hand. She shivered at the thought of that. God, what a sick fuck, she thought. Most of all, she remembered the horrific memory of James and David almost chopping her up into tiny little pieces. She stood in place not knowing if she could go back in there. She was worried that something might happen to not only herself, but AJ and Joel as well.

"You alright honey?" asked Joel.

"I'm not sure if I can do this. I mean...I really want to..but-"

"That's alright Ellie. You don't have to. I'll stay right here with you if you don't want to come inside. AJ, you okay of checking out the building by yourself?"

"Not a problem Joel." said AJ.

He started walking towards the building. Just as he opened the door, he heard the sound of Ellie's voice directed towards him.

"Hey."

"Yeah Ell?"

"Be careful."

He nodded gently before entering the building and shutting the door. She felt a sudden pain in her stomach. She figured it was because this was the first time that AJ and herself were split up for a while. She already was starting to miss him even though he had only been gone for a matter of seconds. She tried to stay strong. She hoped that he would be able to handle himself if he ran into any sort of trouble in there. Hopefully, she thought.

* * *

Once AJ had shut the door, it was almost pitch black within the building. He couldn't see anything. He had no choice but to turn his flashlight on, hoping that there were no bandits near him that would notice the light. Fortunately enough for him, there were no bandits near the entrance. In fact, judging by the noise within the building, he was pretty sure there were no bandits in the building at all, but he had to make sure. The only noises he did hear were the sounds of clicking and loud groans. He walked over to the next room and witnessed an entire hoard of infected in front of him.

He groaned angrily. "Oh fuck. This is exactly what I need at a time like this." He said sarcastically to himself. "Whatever. Here we go."

Luckily he had enough shivs to take out the clickers in that room in complete stealth mode. The last thing he needed was to make noise and cause more attention to himself. One by one, he shivved all the clickers that came in his way. Right when he dropped the last clicker, a runner came and grabbed him from behind. He elbowed the runner in the gut, took out his handy axe and chopped its fucking head off.

"Yeah that's right you motherfucker! Stay down!"

He didn't even notice the runner standing in the corner until he had turned around. He scanned the perimeter and realized that it was the last one left in the room. He was grateful that the runner hadn't heard him scream in excitement from killing the last runner. He walked very slowly and quietly to the last runner. For some odd reason, it seemed like it was sleeping standing up. He grabbed it's neck and started strangling it until he choked it to death.

"And that's that." he said with a big smirk on his face. He was proud of himself for the time being. That is until he had reached the next room. This room had two floors and what seemed like double the amount of infected. He saw the regular clickers and runners on the top floor and knew that he could usually take care of them with no issues. But this time he had a couple of problems. The first problem was that he had no shivs left over. The second problem was that he was on the bottom floor and the only way to get up would be the stairs on the other side of the room. The problem with that was that there were 4 of the same type of infected that he had never encountered before. He knew about the clickers, runners, and stalkers. But these were much bigger, and he had never seen them before, so he had no idea how to take them out. He began to mutter to himself.

"Come on AJ. Think. What to do, what to do."

* * *

AJ had been gone for longer than Ellie and Joel had originally expected, and they were starting to get a little worried about him.

"We should go check on him to make sure he's okay. Maybe he's gotten into trouble or something." she said.

"I think you're right, but what about you. I thought you didn't want to go back in there."

She sighed. "Yeah well, someone has to go check up on him. And I don't want to stay out here by myself. We need to find him."

Joel sighed in defeat. He knew that this probably wouldn't be the parental thing to do, but he knew that Ellie was not going to let this go knowing that AJ was still in that building.

"Alright. But stay close to me. I don't want you out of my sight. We clear?"

"Roger dodger."

They began to approach the entrance when they heard the sound of very loud groans coming from inside the building. They now knew what was on the other side of this door and what AJ was facing. What they weren't sure about was whether or not AJ had ever seen bloaters before. They just hoped that they could get to him in time, before it was too late.

* * *

**A/N**

**Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter. Hope you guys continue to enjoy my story. As always let me know what you think in a review and make sure to follow to make sure you don't miss out on any of it. Thanks.**


	23. Return to the Prison

**Chapter 23**

Once they had gotten inside the building, they shut the door tight and turned their flashlights on after noticing how dark it had become. Ellie looked at her surroundings and began to shiver at the thought of all those bad memories. She didn't like the idea of being in there one bit, but if it meant saving her beloved AJ, she had to suck it up. She wasn't willing to lose another person that she cared for. Especially one that saved her life on multiple occasions. Joel looked behind him and saw that Ellie had stopped walking and was looking down at the ground, as if she had something on our mind. He knew that he shouldn't ask but the temptation got the better of him.

"Something on your mind baby girl?"

"What? Oh it's nothing. Let's just keep going. This place gives me the creeps."

She brushed by him as if nothing just happened. He knew that there was something on her mind and she just wasn't willing to talk about it. He decided to let it be. It was only fair that he gave her some to time to think. He quickly caught up to her and took the lead once again. They had finally gotten to the room that AJ had just cleared. They examined the room closely and cringed a little at the site of the carnage lying before them. They knew who's handy work this was, they just hoped that he was still in one piece. Fortunately for them, when they turned the corner, they spotted AJ breathing heavily with a nervous look on his face.

"AJ. What in the sam hell are you doing? Why are you just standing there?" Joel asked.

"Y'know. Just hanging around." He still had a panicked tone in his voice but he was attempting to lighten the mood by being sarcastic. Joel couldn't help but give him a hard glare.

"Alright fine. I got a problem. Got no shivs left. And if you hadn't noticed already...there are some fucking huge guys in the next room. Can someone please explain to me what the fuck those things are?"

Joel snickered. "Well I guess you're lucky we came after you then. Those things you're talking about are called bloaters. They've been infected for a long, long time. Now there's 4 of 'em in there so it's going to be tough. Just stay quiet, so they don't hear you. Just like clickers, they ain't able to see you neither. Use your molotovs to kill them. Don't get too close to them either or you'll be in a steep load of trouble. Got it?

"I think so."

"Alright then. I'll take point. You two, follow my lead."

Joel, to his luck had found a bottle next to his foot. He decided that it was the perfect distraction for them. He threw the bottle with force into the middle of the room where the bloaters were. The bloaters immediately reacted and walked towards the sound. Now, that the bloaters were all standing in the same area, Joel motioned AJ and Ellie to throw their molotovs.

"Alright. When I say so, throw your molotovs at those bloaters...NOW!"

The three of them arced their molotovs in the perfect position and the molotovs had struck their targets. Well, at least the majority of their targets. Three of the bloaters went down almost instantly, where as the fourth bloater was still standing, but it was obvious to them that it was heavily damaged. Joel took advantage of this weakness.

"Alright kids. Watch my back. I'm going to finish this one off."

They nodded and watched as Joel approached the bloater and lit it on fire with his trusty flamethrower. Unfortunately, the groaning of the last bloater had alerted the infected on the catwalks upstairs and they began to charge down towards the lower floors.

"Ellie! AJ! Pull out your guns. We got company!" yelled Joel.

Ellie had pulled out her pistol and AJ had pulled out his rifle. AJ shot about 3 clickers and 5 runners down with his rifle. Joel had taken out his shotgun and killed 4 more clickers and 4 runners. They thought they were clear until they heard a silent clicking noise from the other side of the room. The clicker heard Ellie take a step back and started charging towards her. It wasn't until Ellie had tried to shoot the clicker in the head that she realized a problem. She had run out of ammo. She didn't know what to do. The clicker jumped on top of her and repeatedly tried to clench its teeth into Ellie's body. She screamed.

"HELP!"

"Oh shit!"

AJ ran over and kicked the clicker in the skull knocking it off of Ellie's body. He then proceeded to place his foot on its chest before shooting it in the head with his rifle. Ellie had a terrified look on her face. She had never been that close to being bitten by an infected for quite some time now. But, she knew she had to stay strong.

"You alright Ell? What happened?"

"I'm fine. My pistol ran out of bullets. I didn't have time to pull out my other gun."

"Oh. Well here..." AJ reached into his bag and grabbed his revolver and handed it to her. "You're gonna need something to shoot with."

She gave him a reassuring smile. "Thanks."

AJ walked back over to Joel. They were trying to figure out what they were going to do next. There were clearly no bandits in the building. They had to think of something else. Now that they had no clue where the bandits were, their best option really was to improvise. It wasn't until 2 minutes later that they had realized that Ellie had disappeared from sight. Joel began to worry. He was getting use to her running off like that. It didn't really surprise him anymore, but he still didn't like that.

"Ellie. Ellie!"

"Back here." came a voice from a room in the corner of the room they were currently in.

Joel saw the door was partly open and stepped inside with AJ not far behind him. He saw what was around him and the sight wasn't pretty at all. He saw chopped up body parts piled up in a corner of the room. He also saw a cage and a table that looked like it was used for chopping meat, but he knew that that wasn't the case for these guys. He knew exactly what this place was and looked at Ellie who was sitting on the table. She rocked her feet back and forth and looked straight down. She heard AJ and Joel come in but didn't bother to look up. Instead, she continued to look downwards but to Joel's surprise, she brought up a conversation.

"You think that these guys will ever stop hurting people?"

"I'm not sure kiddo."

She sighed. "These people didn't deserve it. Any of it. I remember everything that happened here and it haunts me every single day."

"I know kiddo. But that's not our decision to make. I know that it's not right at all but that's how these people have decided to survive."

She sighed again. This time, louder and longer, than the last. "I know. It's just...I feel bad for them."

"You shouldn't. None of it is on you. Listen to what your mom said. Find your purpose in life and fight for it. Maybe getting rid of these bandits once and for all is your purpose Ellie."

"I suppose that you're-...wait, how did you know that my mom said that?"

Joel knew that he shouldn't have said that the moment he said it. It slipped out of his mouth and now she knew. He didn't know how to respond to her question.

"You went through my bag didn't you? I can't believe you did that! You don't see me going through your personal -"

She stopped talking as Joel put his hand over her mouth. They heard the sounds of bandits talking in the other room.

"Why are we here again?" said one of the bandits.

"Adam said that he saw those tourists go in this building. They're in here somewhere. We need to find them boys. If you see them, shoot them on sight."

"Yes sir."

Joel had taken his hand off of Ellie's mouth when he heard the bandits stop speaking. He was glad that they kept the door somewhat open so that they could see if someone was approaching them. When he took his hand off her face, he looked up and saw a furious look in her eye.

"Look Ellie. I know you're upset. But we got bigger problems right now."

She groaned at him with frustration. "Fine. But after we deal with these guys, you better give me some answers as to why you were going through my things."

He stayed still before giving a slight nod. He wasn't sure if he was actually going to answer her later on, but he didn't want to piss her off more than she already was by saying no. The three of them moved and hid behind the table as they saw a group of three bandits casually walking in their direction with guns in hand. Joel wasn't really sure what he was more afraid of at this point: the bandits finding and killing them or Ellie unleashing her wrath on him.


	24. Dispute

**Chapter 24**

Within minutes, it seemed as if all the bandits had made their way into the building. Joel, AJ, and Ellie had never seen so many bandits at once, and they were surprised that there were even this many left around. They knew that the three of them were somewhere in the building and it didn't look as if they were going to leave anytime soon. The three of them then realized that they had to make the first move. Their best opportunity at getting rid of these fuckers was right in front of them. It was now or never. Joel estimated that there were about 50 bandits in the building. 50 bandits against 3 survivors weren't the best odds, but they didn't really have another option. This is what they came out here for.

"Alright kids. Here's how this things gonna play out. I'm going to throw a molotov in there. They're all close together so I should be able to hit a good number of them. After that, we have no choice but to improvise and shoot to kill."

Ellie and AJ both knew that it wasn't the best plan that Joel had thought up, but they couldn't think of a better one, so they simply nodded. Joel began to approach the door and opened it ever so slightly so that the bandits wouldn't notice. He arced his molotov and threw it right into the middle of the room, killing 14 of the bandits in the process. He heard a strange voice from the other room.

"I got you motherfuckers! Looks like you're luck has finally run out."

The bandit came along with two more bandits. When they walked through the door, they were greeted with three bows pointed directly between their eyes. Before the bandits could react, the three of them fired the arrows and all three of them had hit their targets.

"33 to go. Man, this is some intense shit." said Ellie.

"I know. I know. There's a lot of them. Just keep your voice down baby girl."

Ellie did what she was told but rolled her eyes at the same time. She was still upset with Joel but she knew that her main priority at this very moment was to get out of this place alive.

AJ looked into his bag and found 3 nail bombs that he still had left over. He passed one to Joel and one to Ellie. They threw their bombs in different areas of the room to make sure that they hit different bandits. The first bomb went off and 4 more bandits went down. Then the second, and 3 more went down. When the last bomb exploded, 5 bandits went down with it. That left 21 more bandits.

AJ smiled and started to whisper. "I win."

"It's not a competition AJ." said Ellie.

"Says the one who lost."

She rolled her eyes and punched him playfully in the arm. "Whatever."

The other 21 would not be as easy as the first wave of bandits they dealt with. The bandits were separated and were on the other side of the room. It was too far to shoot a bow and too dangerous to pull out their guns. They decided to take the stealth approach. Joel took the upper level whereas AJ and Ellie covered the ground floor. One by one, they began to strangle each and every one of the bandits, except for Ellie, who used her switchblade to her advantage. The count of bandits had been dropped to 5. There didn't seem to be any more bandits on the upper catwalk, but Joel double checked, just to make sure. Ellie began to approach the next bandit who was facing the opposite direction. She thought she was going to catch him off guard, but then she stepped on a piece of glass, and unfortunately for her, he heard it.

She swore loudly knowing that it wouldn't make a difference now if she was quiet about it. "Shit!"

He slapped her hard across the face and stomped on the leg that was shot not that long ago and she was in a lot of pain. Not just physical, but emotional pain as well.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here. The little girl. It's time to end this once and for-"

Before he could finish his sentence, a bullet went straight through his head. It came from the upper level. Joel had spotted the bandit atop Ellie and immediately shot him. This shot was immediately followed by 4 more shots on the ground level. AJ had finished off the remaining four bandits. He made sure that there were no bandits hanging around before going over to check on Ellie.

"Hey Ell? Are you alright?"

She tried to sit up but it was no use. She was trying to show him how tough she was but it was hurting her too much. He forced her to lie back down. Joel had made his way down to them.

"Stay down. I'll check your body for any bruises."

He saw a hard slap mark on her face and tried to massage it to make it feel better. He knew that it somewhat helped as she began to smile at him. He then looked at her leg and noticed that it didn't look right.

"Ellie. I think your leg is...I think it's broken."

She looked up in shock. "You're kidding right? It can't be."

"I wish I was."

Joel took a second look at her leg to make sure that what AJ was saying was right. He was hoping that AJ was wrong and that Ellie was fine, but that wasn't the case.

"He's right."

"Fuck. So what do we do now?"

"Well. Our job here is done. We came out here to kill all the bandits and that's exactly what we did. Now we go back home. Here, let me pick you-"

She groaned angrily. She wanted AJ to carry her home because she was still upset with Joel and she wanted him to realize that "No. I want AJ to carry me home."

"Ellie, is this about your backpack?"

"You gonna tell me why you did it?"

"Later."

"Ofcourse...later"

He wanted to continue the conversation but he knew that this wasn't the right place or time for it. They needed to get out of there as soon as possible so he obliged with Ellie's demands.

"Alright. AJ, you carry her. Now let's get moving."

They walked out of the building and kept pressing forward until they reached the house that they were staying in back in Lakeside. They grabbed all the left over supplies in the cabinets and made their way to Joel's motorcycle. It was a long, quiet ride back to their new house near AJ's old house. They were still processing what had happened back in lakeside. Someone would usually start talking. AJ felt the urge to start up a conversation to help them bond more, but he knew better, considering that Joel and Ellie were still fighting. Once they were inside, AJ took her up to the bedroom and lied her down on the soft bed. He kissed her on the forehead.

"Get some rest Ellie. You're going to need it."

He proceeded towards the door but felt AJ tugging at his arm.

"Aren't you going to stay here with me?"

He wasn't sure if he should. He thought that it would be better for Ellie and Joel to talk it out right now. But he still wanted to make her happy.

"I'm just going to head downstairs. I'll come back up soon."

She smiled with a mixture of excitement and pain. "Okay."

He went down and talked to Joel. He told Joel that they needed to fix this. It wasn't healthy for their relationship. He would hate to see them break apart. Joel finally gave in and headed upstairs. He knocked on Ellie's door. Unsurprisingly, she was still awake.

"What are you doing here Joel?"

"What happened to calling me dad?"

She gave a cold, hard stare before sighing and responding to his question. "You tell me."

"Look Ellie. I'm really sorry I looked in your backpack. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Agh. I'm not mad that you read my mom's letter. I'm mad that you didn't ask me first before you did it."

He sighed. He knew that she was still upset and he didn't know how to make it up to her. He decided to ask her. "I'm sorry baby girl. I just wanted to know more about you because you never really talked to me about your past. How can I make it up to you?"

"If you want to know more about me, just ask next time. And if you want to make it up to me, I guess you could sing me another song. That cheered me up last time."

"Sure thing kiddo. But maybe tomorrow. I'm a little tired from all the crap we just went through. So you forgive me?"

"I forgive you this time. Just don't pull that shit again."

He chuckled. "Alright baby girl. Get some rest. You need to heal that leg of yours."

"Okay. Good night dad."

"Good night baby girl."

Joel walked out of the room and headed back downstairs. AJ looked at him coming down with a smile on his face and he knew that they had made up. He was happy for them. Their 'family' was stronger than ever and he could finally sleep knowing that they had nothing to worry about. At least for the night. He went upstairs and lied down next to Ellie, cuddling with her. He noticed her smile get bigger and she spoke.

"I'm glad you're here."

"Yeah. Sure thing princess."

He kissed her on the cheek before they both drifted off to a peaceful, well-deserved sleep.

* * *

**A/N**

**I'm sorry to inform you guys that this story will be ending very shortly. School is just around the corner and I need to start focusing on my studies. I think I might have enough to write a couple more chapters for this story though. If you guys are enjoying this story, please let me know in a review. Also, if you like my work and want me to write another story about a different part of the Last of Us, let me know your suggestion and I will strongly take it into consideration if I find the spare time to write another story. Thanks.**


	25. Sweet

**Chapter 25**

It had now been 3 days since Joel, Ellie, and AJ had returned from their journey. It was probably 3 of the most peaceful days of their lives. They didn't have to deal with any infected or hunters. For once, they were just able to sit back and live life like the good old days. However, Ellie still had a broken leg to deal with, which made her quite upset that she couldn't do anything that she thought would be fun. She had woken up to the bright sun shining directly in her eyes, and when she sat up, she noticed Joel and AJ sitting right by her side.

"Good morning! Did you guys even get any sleep?"

They looked at each other and then chuckled.

"Yeah we did kiddo. We just wanted to check up on you to make sure you were doing alright."

"Oh. Well I'm fine."

"Good. Here. I brought you some breakfast. We already ate, so no need to worry about us."

He turned around and grabbed a plate. He turned back to face Ellie and handed her a plate with a tuna sandwich.

"Tuna? God. You know I hate tuna."

"Yeah well, you can't always get what you want baby girl."

"Well tuna's kinda shitty. But I'm starving, so I don't really have much of a choice."

She took a big bite of the sandwich and looked up at AJ. She noticed him starting to chuckle and immediately questioned him.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing. It's just...when you're starving...you look funny when you finally get food in your mouth."

"Shutup."

She playfully punched his arm and laughed. It went quiet for a couple of seconds before Joel grabbed Ellie's arm and started to speak.

"Ellie, do you mind if AJ and I go out to look for more supplies?"

"Can I come with you?"

"I don't think that's such a good idea." He hinted at her by pointing at her leg.

She sighed. "Yeah...I guess you're right. Alright, go ahead."

"You sure you're going to be okay to be alone for a little while?"

"Yeah I'll be fine. You don't need to worry about me all the time dad. I can handle myself, remember."

"I know you can honey. But you're not in any condition to be movin' around." He motioned over to AJ. "Alright kid. C'mon. Let's go scrounge up some supplies."

They walked down the stairs but stopped half way when they heard Ellie shout something at them.

"Hurry back! I'm going to be bored out of my mind in here!"

"We won't take long. I promise." said Joel.

Joel proceeded to continue walking down the steps but AJ just stood still. He felt bad that Ellie had to lie in bed all day with nothing to do. He wanted her to at least have some kind of fun while they were gone. He remembered that Joel told him that her walkman was broken and that gave him an idea. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Joel's voice.

"Aren't you coming?"

"Yeah..I just need to give something to Ellie first. Be right back."

Before Joel could even respond, AJ leapt up the stairs and ran into his room. He sifted through his backpack before finding what he was looking for. He casually walked over to Ellie's room.

"Hey Ellie. Got a sec?"

"Yeah. What's up? I thought you guys would be gone by now."

He scratched the back of his head before speaking again. "Uhh well, I felt bad about leaving you behind. I didn't want you to be as bored. And then I remembered Joel telling me that your walkman was broken. So here."

He handed her a walkman and a recorder. A big smile started to slowly appear on her face. It had been quite a while since she was able to listen to a walkman.

"Thanks! But don't you want it?"

"Nah. That's alright. You can have it. Don't use it much anymore. I don't know if you'll like the same music I do, but I hope you find something you like in there. We'll be back soon."

"Alright."

He gave her a wink before exiting the room. He ran back down the stairs and met up with Joel.

"Ready to go AJ?"

"Sure thing."

"Alright. Let's get a move on."

* * *

Ellie sat on her bed thinking about a number of things. She was so happy that she finally got the chance to listen to some music again. The last time her walkman worked was back in the Boston QZ. She sat there, staring at the walkman for what seemed like minutes before turning it on and plugging the head phones into her ears. She was really happy with what she heard. AJ's taste in music satisfied her needs completely. He actually had a couple of songs that Ellie had on her old walkman which made her quite happy as well. She got a little excited and turned up the volume but realized that it wasn't such a good idea considering the possibility of infected entering the house, so she decided to keep the music in her ears playing at a low volume. She had a habit of looking down when she listened to music. It was then that she noticed the recorder that AJ gave her lying on the bed. She instantly became curious.

"Why would he give me this?" she said to herself.

She unplugged the headphones from the walkman and put it into the recorder. She pressed play and was surprised by what she heard. It was AJ's voice. It was a message directed towards Ellie. She started to tear up in joy. He was expressing his feelings towards her through the recording. She thought it was really sweet of him but she also thought that it was kind of funny.

"Man. This is really sweet. It's so like him. He doesn't have the balls to say all these things to my face." she said to herself.

When the recording stopped, she pressed the next button to see if there was anything else on the recorder. She didn't expect him to have anything else on there, but to her surprise, there was, and it was the last thing she expected. She heard a voice starting to sing while strumming the guitar and she immediately became interested.

"Oh my god! No fucking way! He can sing too. Okay. I'm definitely going to make him sing for me whether he likes it or not! Joel did it, so why can't he?" she thought.

AJ's singing voice wasn't what she expected either. He was a fun guy and she loved him for that, but she expected his music to be somewhat more dark and gloomy in a way. But it wasn't. His song was so beautiful and soulful. He had such a beautiful voice. The thing she liked the most about the song was that it was about her. Joel had sung a song about her, but this was different. Joel sang a song that was written by someone else. It still meant the world to her, but this meant a lot more, considering that she knew for a fact that AJ spent the time looking for words to describe Ellie in a song.

When the song stopped she held it right by her heart for a few moments before replaying it. She was hooked to it. She liked it a lot. She couldn't wait until he got home. She missed him even more after listening to his message to her and his song about her. She wanted to show him somehow how much she actually appreciated what he did for her. But what could she do? What was a girl to do for the boy that loved her so much? She decided to erase the thought from her mind for the time being. She would deal with it later. She took the headphones out of ears and started thinking about the two men that were left in her life.

"I hope they come home soon."

* * *

**A/N**

**Hey guys! Sorry for not posting any chapters for the last couple of days. I've been somewhat lazy and couldn't really come up with any ideas. But nevertheless, here is the next chapter in the story. I hope you enjoy it. As always, make sure to leave a review telling me what you think. Thanks.**


	26. Lost & Found

**Chapter 26**

AJ and Joel had finally finished their supply run and they were making their way back to the house. To their surprise, they were able to find a bunch of supplies like binding, sugar, and canned fruits in a rundown hotel nearby. When they figured that their work was done, they headed back to check up on Ellie. They made it back to the house without facing any surprise encounters along the way. They walked through the door but they could hear nothing but silence.

"Ellie?" said Joel.

No response.

"Ellie!"

There was still no answer and Joel was starting to get worried. He immediately ran up the stairs to check her room with AJ close behind him. What if _they_ got her he thought. He knew he had gotten rid of most of the fireflies back at St. Mary's Hospital, but to this day, he was worried that the ones that were still alive would come after Ellie. He tried his best to make sure that didn't happen. He couldn't lose her now. He couldn't lose another daughter. Not after everything they had been through together. He opened the door and let out a giant sigh of relief at the sight of the teenage girl with auburn hair sleeping on the bed. He approached her and attempted to brush her hair out of her eyes, accidentally waking her up in the process. She rubbed her eyes before beginning to speak.

"Hey. You guys find anything good?"

"Yeah. We found a bunch of stuff. We even found some more food." said AJ.

He proceeded her to hand her one of the cans of fruit. She analyzed it carefully before looking back up to him.

"Man. This is awesome. I love this stuff."

She handed the can back to AJ with a somewhat depressed look on her face. AJ noticed this and immediately became curious.

"Something wrong Ell?"

"Oh no. It's nothing. It's just...I wish I was there with you guys. I've been stuck inside for the past couple of days and I'm starting to get bored out of my mind."

Joel grabbed her shoulder to try and reassure her that she would get well soon enough. He was the one who wrapped Ellie's leg in a way that it would heal. He learned this from doing the same with Tommy when Tommy had broken his arm 2 years after the outbreak. It wasn't easy, but there were no doctors around and he knew that he had to try considering how much he cared for Ellie now.

"You're gonna be fine soon Ellie. Trust me. Just a couple more days rest and you should be back to your old self."

She sighed. "Aghh. Fine."

She looked over to the table beside her bed and noticed the recorder lying there. She instantly remembered what she wanted to talk to AJ about the moment he walked through the door. She had the feeling that he would be nervous and embarrassed to talk about his feelings, so she decided that it would be best to talk in private, without Joel there.

"Hey dad. Do you think I can talk to AJ? Y'know, in private."

He looked over at AJ who had a confused look on his face. He hesitantly stepped out of the room, letting the two teenagers discuss what they had to. He proceeded down the stairs and sat on the couch to relax for a few moments before they came back down. He realized that his age was really starting to get to him and he couldn't move as often and quickly as he use to.

* * *

AJ just stood there waiting for Ellie to start talking. He honestly had no idea what she wanted to talk about. He figured it was about the recorder and walkman he gave her earlier, but he couldn't be certain with her facial expression. She immediately let out a smile and motioned him to come sit on bed next to her. He obliged. He was taken aback by the feeling of her lips pressed against his cheeks.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For what you said on the recorder. It was really sweet. I loved it. And more importantly, I love you."

He smiled. "I love you too Ell."

They sat in silence for a few moments before Ellie decided to speak up again. She wanted to try and make him sing for her, no matter how hard it might be.

"So..." she said.

"Yeah?"

"How come you never told me that you could sing?"

He had a pale look on his face. It was at that moment that he remembered the song he recorded about Ellie on the recorder. He had been meaning to delete it, but forgot about it when he gave it to Ellie. She was never suppose to hear it.

"Uhh..."

She thought about it and looked over it his facial expression. She knew that there was something wrong, and she had a feeling of what it was.

"You never wanted me to hear it, did you?"

He nodded.

"Why the hell not?"

"I dunno. I guess I was a bit nervous. I didn't want you to hear me sing. I was afraid that you would hate it."

She shook her head. "Well I didn't. In fact, I loved it. It was awesome. You have an awesome voice."

"Thanks. That means a lot coming from you."

"You're welcome." She thought about something for a second before deciding to ask him. "So...when are you going to sing for me in person?"

"What?"

"I said when are you-"

"I know. I heard you the first time. And the answer is never."

"Why the hell not?"

"I can't. I would be too nervous and embarrassed."

"C'mon AJ. Grow a pair of balls for crying out loud. You kick so much ass when we're travelling. Why can't you do this for me?"

"Yeah but...I dunno Ell."

She sighed. She knew that this was hard for him and she didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable. But she still wanted to hear him sing.

"Alright, what do I have to do to make you change your mind? You want another kiss?"

"I can get another kiss from you whether I sing for you or not." he said sarcastically.

She playfully punched his arm. "Shut up. Don't get too comfortable with that. But seriously, what do you want from me that will make you change your mind? I'll do anything."

He took this offer into consideration. After a minute or two, he had finally made his decision. He decided that the only way he would sing was if she sang with him.

"Alright. I'll sing, if and only if you sing with me."

Her jaw dropped. "No fucking way! You know I can't sing."

"Yes you can. I've heard you sing in the shower. Don't lie to me."

She began to mutter something to herself. "Fuck. Why the hell do I have to sing in the shower?"

He responded with a small laughter. "I want us to write our own song together. Then we can learn to play it on the guitar and sing it to Joel."

"Wait, you want me to sing it to him too?!"

"Well we need someone to listen."

She thought about and realized that Joel would actually like to hear her sing. She knew that even if he didn't like her singing, he would be supportive and appreciative which made her more okay with the idea.

"Alright fine. But you better not make fun of me while we're doing this. We'll start tomorrow."

He chuckled. "Sure thing. Now try to get some sleep."

"But, I'm not even tired."

"Just try, for me. Or at least, lie down. You need to rest your leg. I'll stay here with you."

"Fine."

* * *

Joel had just started to drift off to sleep when he heard a noise from outside. It sounded like a truck of some sort. He got up to check the window and saw a truck with a bunch of men inside. When the men stepped out, he noticed the uniforms and the logo on their arms. _Fireflies._

"Oh shit."

He wanted to go upstairs and warn Ellie and AJ of the fireflies outside, but it was a little too late for that. They had already surrounded the house and there was nowhere to go now. They were trapped. His worst nightmare had finally come true.

He heard the sound of footsteps approach the door. The firefly knocked on the door three times consecutively before speaking.

"Open the door smuggler! We know you're in there!"

Joel's heart stopped with the sound of the voice. How did they find them? Was this finally the end? No. He couldn't think negatively. It wasn't over yet. He decided to obey the Fireflies' demands as making them angry probably wouldn't be the best idea. He approached the door slowly with his shotgun in hand for protection as he grabbed the doorknob. As he turned the knob slowly, he thought to himself that his time may have finally caught up with him.

* * *

**A/N**

**Hey guys! Back with another chapter. I hate to inform you that the next chapter will most likely be the last chapter of this story. However, I won't rule out continuing this story with a brand new fanfiction. I hope you enjoy this chapter. As always review, review, review. Thanks!**


	27. Sacrifice

**Chapter 27**

He regretted his decision of letting the Fireflies back into their lives the moment he turned the knob to open the door. He was greeted by a soldier pointing a gun right at his head. He knew that after everything he had done back at that hospital, they wouldn't be as hesitant to shoot him this time. He raised his arms up in the air to signify the fact that he wasn't armed.

"Where is the girl?" the firefly asked.

"That's none of your concern."

"Hand her over now or I'll pop your god damn head off!"

Joel snickered. He wasn't ready for this. He didn't expect the fireflies to come after them in such a short amount of time. He wouldn't hand her over. He _couldn't._ Not after everything he did to save her from this group the first time around.

The firefly was growing impatient and fired a warning shot in Joel's direction causing the older man to flinch. The firefly reloaded his gun and pointed it back at Joel's head.

"If I were you, I wouldn't keep us waiting. She's not worth dying for."

Joel heard the sound of the firefly's finger pressing harder and harder on the trigger. He was about to fire when he heard the sound of footsteps upstairs and witnessed someone else appearing from one of the bedrooms with a rifle in hand. It was AJ.

"Why the fuck can't you leave these people alone?" AJ proclaimed.

"And who may you be young man?"

"You don't need to know who I am."

"Wrong answer."

The firefly fired a shot and it hit its mark. The bullet had hit AJ right in the shoulder blade and he was screaming in pain. Joel tried to hold his composure as much as he could, but it wasn't as easy as he thought it would be. He knew that Ellie cared so much about this boy, and that she would never forgive him if he let the fireflies kill him. But he couldn't do anything at the moment. He was unarmed and vulnerable. He heard the sound of more footsteps from upstairs and turned around to see Ellie limping while holding onto the railing to keep herself up right.

She heard the gunshots and became worried. She stepped out the door and saw AJ lying on the ground squeezing his shoulder in pain. She began to shed tears out of her eyes. She dropped to her knees right beside him.

"NOOO! AJ! Come on. Stay with me."

The firefly recognized Ellie and immediately signaled to two of his companions to go over and grab her. He kept the gun pointed at Joel to make sure he didn't try anything. Joel knew it was best not to intervene. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to save his little girl, but if he tried, he would lose his own life. He watched helplessly as they grabbed Ellie from behind.

"Stop! Let go of me you motherfuckers! Dad!"

The fireflies were too concerned with grabbing Ellie that they had completely forgotten about AJ. Even though he was down, he wasn't out of the mix yet. He took the opportunity to take advantage of the situation in front of him. He fired two shots with his rifle, killing both fireflies in the process. He then pointed his gun with all the strength he could muster to the man already in the house, who appeared to be the leader. Unfortunately, the rest of the fireflies heard the gunshots and entered the house in unison pointing their guns at AJ. They were about to fire when they heard AJ speak.

"WAIT! Don't shoot. Please. I want to say something."

The fireflies obliged temporarily. However, they didn't give him a lot of time. They kept their guns at the ready just in case he tried to pull some crazy stunt.

He took a deep breath before speaking.

"I know the reason you're after Ellie is because you think she is the only way to make a vaccine. That she is the only person that is immune. But that isn't true. Because...because I'm immune too."

He rolled up his pants to reveal his bite mark to the fireflies. They didn't believe him at first, but after thinking about it, they realized that if he knew these two that well, he must have been bitten a while ago.

"It's been three years since I've been bitten. So if you're not going to let this go until you make a vaccine,...don't take her. Take me instead. I'm willing to sacrifice myself if it means keeping her alive."

The leader thought about what AJ had said for a few moments before heading up the stairs. AJ thought that he wasn't able to get through to him, but he was sadly mistaken. The leader shoved Ellie aside and approached AJ and grasped his injured shoulder tightly.

"Works for me kid. But I swear to god, if I find out that you're not actually immune, I'm going to make sure your life is miserable."

AJ gulped loudly. He didn't show it through his facial expression but he was terrified inside. He had no idea of what the Fireflies were capable of, but if it meant keeping Ellie safe, he would do it. She meant the world to him. He stopped dead in his thoughts when he felt Ellie tug at his arm. Luckily for him, the leader allowed him to bring along his backpack which held all of his weapons and supplies.

"AJ please! You don't have to do this! They're after me, not you!"

"I know. I want to do this. I need to do this. I made a promise to Joel that I wouldn't let anyone hurt you and I'm not going to break that promise now. I don't care if I have to die to keep you alive. I just need to make sure that both of you are safe."

She let go of his arm knowing that he was going to go through with this no matter what she said. Nothing would change his mind. He kissed her one last time before he left the house with the Fireflies. She was in a state of pure shock and depression. It wasn't until the door had shut and reality had kicked in that the tears started to pour out of her eyes. He was gone. After all the times they held each other close, after all they had been through, she had lost another person that was dear to her heart. But this was different from the others. This was a person that she truly loved and cared for. He was there whenever she needed him and now he was gone. She had no one. That is until she noticed the elder man in the corner of the room slowly approaching her.

Joel had no idea what to say after everything that had just transpired. He feared that she would be angry at him after what AJ had said about the promise he made. He was surprised when the teenage girl limped over to him and embraced him into a deep hug. She couldn't help it. She needed him more than ever and he knew that. Now that AJ was gone, he had to take more responsibility in consoling her. Would it be easy? Of course not. But he had to. Ellie was his second chance at having a daughter and he had to help her through the tough times no matter how much of a toll it took on him. He had to stay strong for his baby girl.

"It's okay baby girl. It's okay. I'm here." he repeatedly said.

She wouldn't stop sobbing. She was having trouble speaking, and who could blame her. She had gone through hell her whole life. His only wish was to give this girl a peaceful life. Something that he truly wanted for her. Something that she deserved. But it was easier said than done.

Her sobs began to calm down and he could feel her lift her head against his chest. She looked at him with her big, green, beautiful eyes and muttered something in a quiet voice.

"I'm sorry. I just...I miss him so much..." She began to sob heavily again after saying this. It was too much to handle for her.

"I know. I know. I do too."

He sat there embracing Ellie for what seemed like a couple of hours before she finally drifted off to sleep. He lied awake. He didn't want to sleep. He wanted to make sure that he was awake when she needed him. He didn't care if it took days, weeks, even months for her to recover from this. Obviously, he didn't wish for the latter, but he just hoped that she would go back to her old self soon enough. He would give her all the time she needed, and he would continue to support her no matter what happened.

* * *

**5 months later**

It was a beautiful morning outside. The sun was shining, the grass was bright green, and the water was in the river nearby was so clear and beautiful. The same couldn't be said for inside Joel and Ellie's house though. No. Ellie had gotten a little better and her leg was fully healed now, but she still hadn't fully recovered from the loss of her boyfriend AJ. She began to talk a little more every day, but it still wasn't the same as before, and Joel was beginning to get a little worried. He had made a plate of scrambled eggs for breakfast. It was one of Ellie's favourites but he was surprised to see that she had barely touched it. He decided to question her.

"Ellie. Is there something wrong?"

"No. Why?"

"Well you usually love my eggs. And you've barely touched them."

"Oh. No they're great. I'm just thinking."

"Alright then. You want to talk about it?"

She was hesitant at first but decided to talk about it after further thought. She sighed. "Well, I was just wondering, do you think AJ went through with it?...do you think he's...dead?"

Joel dropped his fork on his plate. He didn't expect her to ask something like that. It wasn't a good idea for her to keep thinking about him. But he knew how important he was to her and there was nothing he could really do to stop her from thinking about him.

"Now Ellie..."

"I just want your opinion. What do you think?"

He looked at Ellie's face and saw a hint of a pout on her face. The last thing he wanted to do was to let her down. This was the first time she had brought up a conversation in a while, so he decided to go with it.

"Alright well. AJ's a tough kid. We both know he can handle himself. But the odds are just stacked against him. I think he had to have gone through with it. If he didn't, I don't think he would have been able to escape. I'm sorry baby girl."

She sighed. "Yeah...me too."

Just then they heard the sound of someone knocking on the front door. It was strange. They weren't expecting company. No one even knew that they lived here.

"What in the Sam hell? Ellie, would you mind getting that?"

He looked at Ellie who was still playing with her fork and her food. She didn't budge and continued to fiddle with her food. He decided to let her be and went to go open the door. He opened the door and witnessed a teenage boy standing before him. The boy was wearing a dark coloured sweater with a hood, dark coloured pants, dark coloured shoes, pretty much dark coloured everything. They boy was holding his left shoulder with his right hand and his stomach with his left, almost as if he had just been through hell and was in pain. Joel noticed something familiar about this boy, but he wasn't completely sure.

"Can I help you?"

The boy just stood there with no response before speaking in as loud of a voice as he could, which was remarkably quiet.

"Joel?"

"How in the hell do you know my-"

He was cut off by the sight of the boy lifting his head and taking his hood off. He now recognized who it was and couldn't believe it. They boy's hair had grown so much and he had even grown a pretty large beard. He looked weak and vulnerable and so Joel immediately let him in.

"Oh my god. Come in. Sit down."

"Thanks."

As Joel shut the door, Ellie was still fiddling with her food and didn't bother to look up. However, she was still curious as to who was at the door.

"Dad? Who was at the door?"

"Why don't you look up and see for yourself?"

The voice that spoke wasn't the sound of the Southern Texan accent that she was so accustomed to hearing for the past one and a half years. But she did recognize it. She immediately decided to investigate with a sudden burst of interest and she couldn't believe her eyes when she finally looked up at the doorway.

"Oh my god! No fucking way!"

She ran up and hugged AJ as tight as she could. She couldn't believe it. How was he still alive? How was this possible? Was she dreaming? She pinched herself to make sure, and was so happy when she realized that she wasn't dreaming. She was ecstatic that he was back. She started kissing him repeatedly on the cheek.

"Alright alright. I think that's enough."

"God I missed you so much!"

"Yeah I missed you too Ell."

"So what happened back there?" Joel intervened.

He chuckled. "Put it this way. I finished the job that you started."

"So you're saying-"

"Yeah. The Fireflies are no more. You don't have to worry about them anymore."

"Great. But to be honest, I'm just glad your back son."

"Thanks Joel. That means a lot. You guys mind if I lie down. I'm a little sore from all the ass kicking and what not."

They chuckled. "Yeah sure thing" said Ellie.

She guided AJ up the stairs and placed him gently onto the bed. She decided to lie down with him. She missed him so much. She missed the feeling of cuddling with him and she wanted to cuddle now more than ever.

"I'm glad your back AJ. I don't think I would have made it without you."

"Well I'm glad you guys are safe. Just remember one thing. I'll never leave you. The three of us are in this together. But more importantly, we're in this forever."

* * *

**A/N**

**There you have it guys. That was the conclusion of my first fanfiction, "A New Journey." Please let me know what you thought in a review. If you enjoyed the story, I would really appreciate if you favourited and/or followed my story and/or my account in general. I'm going to be starting school up again in like a week and a half, so I most likely won't have time to write up another story. However, if you have any good ideas, please feel free to let me know and I will strongly take them into consideration. If I were to write another story, I want to make sure that it's a story that my readers would enjoy. So please let me know. Thanks a lot. **


	28. Author's Note

**A/N:**

**Hey guys! Sorry that this isn't actually a sequel to my story, as I know many of you are hoping for one. I just wanted to let you know that I'm currently working on a story collaboratively with an author named BlueSky509. It is a prequel to his previous story, No Sound, Please, so I recommend that you read that story first. You can find the new story called "Denver's Finest" on BlueSky509's channel. You may notice that the writing style changes between chapters as we progress further into the story because we are going to be switching the task of writing the chapter between the two of us. You will notice that on every chapter, BlueSky509 will post who wrote the chapter so you can give credit where it is due. Please make sure to check it out and follow, favourite and review that story. It would truly mean a lot to the both of us. And on another note, regarding my account, I am still strongly considering writing something else regarding the Last of Us. The game has stuck with me and I still can't get over it. :) Just in case I do find some spare time on my hands, I just want to have a rough idea of what you guys want to see. Do you guys want just short stories, like one-shots, or do you guys want an actual continuation to my original story, "A New Journey?" Please leave me a review and let me know. Thanks.**


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